Game of War: Fire Age
by zavera
Summary: I play Game of War: Fire Age, and this story follows what actually happened to my city, except from the citizens' perspective. Enjoy! Disclaimer: All names (i.e. city names, hero names, etc) have been changed for anonymity. If the names used here are yours, I apologize and assure you that it is purely coincidental.
1. Chapter 1: Awakening

**Chapter 1: Awakening**

"Hey, sis. Whatcha playing?"

I looked up briefly at my sister before returning my attention back to my phone.

"Nothing. I'm installing a new app game. If I play and get my stronghold to level five, I can get diamonds for my mystery search game. It's some sort of promotional thing."

"What's a stronghold?"

"No idea. I think it's some kind of building. Whatever it is, I'm gonna get it up to level five and uninstall. I just want my diamonds."

My sister shrugged and left the room, but a second later, I heard a click and the power in my room went out. I groaned. She must have turned on the bathroom light. That stupid light switch constantly tripped the circuit. This was the third time this week!

"Could you reset it?" I said loudly. "I'm still charging my phone!"

The lights in my room came back on. Good thing I had plugged my phone into a power strip and not to the wall directly.

With a shake of my head, I looked back down at my phone to the game I was installing. I frowned. It went up to 100% then went back down to 99%.

"What the…"

A second later, it went back up to 100% installed, and a push notification popped up saying the game had been successfully installed in my phone.

I shrugged. Whatever.

I went to my game folder and touched the app to open it. Time to get through this game so I could get those diamonds.

* * *

Citizen 100F opened her eyes and blinked several times as she looked around. Soft glowing lines of strange symbols swirled around her and slowly faded away. Next to her several rows of other citizens were also opening their eyes and taking in their surroundings.

They were in a large room with marble floors and high stone ceilings. Grand pillars encircled the room, and the same soft glowing light that had surrounded Citizen 100F a few moments ago was running along the edges of the floors, walls, and pillars.

Suddenly, sparks spouted out from the lines of lights. The lines expanded and spread out like a net from the walls and pillars to the floor and moved towards all of the citizens still awakening in the middle of the room.

One particularly fat line of light streaked across the floor straight towards Citizen 100F. She blinked at it and within moments, it had reached her feet. A great spark of light and strange symbols burst out of the line and hit her hard in the chest.

She let out a startled cry and fell backwards. Instantly, chaos broke loose and all her other fellow citizens jumped back and ran away from the lines and their sparks. Most avoided getting hit, but a few let out small cries as sparks of light spouted out and hit different portions of their bodies.

Citizen 100F's chest burned and glowed with light. That fiery heat inside her quickly spread to the rest of her body, and for several moments she couldn't move. She vaguely heard a voice.

"Oh no! Malfunction! Something's happened to the new citizens! Go get the manager!"

Citizen 100F blinked up at the high stone ceiling and for the first time in the few minutes she had been awake, she admired the grand arcs and lines of the ceiling's architecture and wondered who had designed them.

"Are you ok?" a concerned male voice said.

Citizen 100F shifted her eyes from the ceiling to her fellow male citizen. She knew his designation immediately. He was Citizen 53M. Portions of his chest and legs were glowing, but it was hard to see it because there was a slight glow to everything.

She blinked and rubbed her eyes, stopping when she noticed the glow coming from her hands. She then looked at herself and realized that her whole body was glowing.

Citizen 53M gently helped her into a sitting position.

"You got hit the worst," he said.

"Is everyone uncorrupted and undamaged?" a deep voice said.

Someone else had entered the room. He was tall and muscular. He had on loose robes and his hair, which was shoulder length, fell in waves.

"They all seem functional, sir. The power surge raised their information absorption rate. They're much more aware and active in a shorter span of time than the previous group. Otherwise, no damage done. The sparks are already fading."

Citizen 100F blinked and looked at the citizen who had spoken. The name came to her mind. Citizen 4F. And she was right. No one was glowing anymore, except for Citizen 100F. She still had a slight glow on her body, but within a few seconds her body was back to normal.

Citizen 100F looked back up and noticed that Citizen 4F wore a long flowing light purple robe that went all the way down to her feet. Citizen 100F looked down at herself and saw that she wore a skin-tight white suit that covered her from the neck down to her ankles. A sudden longing to wear one of those lovely robes filled her.

Manager 2M nodded at Citizen 4F.

"My name is Manager 2M. I help orient newly awakened citizens. Welcome new citizens to the world of GOWFA!"

Next to Manager 2M, several other citizens came in. The men wore one-shoulder togas that came to their knees, and the women wore long flowing dresses like Citizen 4F. Each citizen held a set of clothes and leather sandals in their arms.

With Citizen 53M's helping hand, Citizen 100F got back on her feet and eagerly waited for her set of clothes.

"Once you've all dressed, we will show you the city. The Player has not entered our domain yet, but the first opening should occur soon."

Everyone put on their clothes. The instant the lovely light yellow robe went over Citizen 100F's body, the skin tight white suit underneath disappeared. When she finished putting on her sandals, she followed Manager 2M out of the room, which she learned was the Awakening Room.

The room opened out to a grand circular chamber with a domed ceiling. Manager 2M pointed out the other entrances that led to different rooms. Every entrance encircling the chamber looked identical to each other, but somehow Citizen 100F was able to pick out the Awakening Room with ease. As soon as Manager 2M introduced an entrance and said its name, she could pick out that room, too.

"As you can see, this area has all of the important rooms vital to the function of our city. We have the Awakening Room, the Quests Room, the Items Room, the Alliance Room, the Mail Room…"

Citizen 100F listened to what Manager 2M said and noted each room he introduced, but her gaze wandered to the center of the chamber. The center area dipped down several stone steps to a great table that glowed and shimmered with different symbols on it.

Manager 2M finally turned to the center and said, "That table at the center is the command center. It lies at the heart of this structure we're in, which is known as the Stronghold. We are currently at Stronghold Level One, but that will soon change. That table displays all the actions of the Player and allows us to communicate our Player's commands to the rest of the city. Follow me."

Manager 2M led the group to one of four entrances that he hadn't introduced. As soon as they went through one of them and out into an open area, those four entrances were set in Citizen 100F's mind as exits.

They entered a semi open area. There was still a stone roof and ceiling above their heads, and the floor was made of marble like the rest of the rooms, but instead of walls and doors, there were stone pillars lined up all around.

Manager 2M pointed out a soft glowing line a few feet before the pillars.

"Once the opening occurs, don't go past that line," Manager 2M said. "When you go outside to the city streets, you become visible to the Player. For now, the opening has yet to happen so follow me."

They all followed him past the pillars, and Citizen 100F had her first view of the city. It was empty but impressive. Large expanses of empty stone slots descended down elegant steps to three different tiers of large expanses of flat stone or grassy areas. In the center, a large irrigation system poured water down all three tiers like an enormous fountain. Grand statues of noble warriors or elegant women stood proudly above the waters. Beyond the city tiers, Citizen 100F could see the city walls and she even glimpsed the city gates. Past the gates, she saw empty patches of barren land.

"Look up there," Manage 2M said and pointed above their heads to a white orb floating above the city.

"That is the Player Orb. It's our connection to them."

"Player?" Citizen 100F said and gazed curiously at the orb.

"Yes," Manager 2M said. "The creators of the world are called MZ, but the Players are the ones who take care of the cities. Each city has one Player. Ours hasn't arrived yet."

Suddenly, the globe, which had been dark and cold, lit up. The warm light emanating out from the orb soaked into Citizen 100F, and she closed her eyes with a happy smile.

"The Player!" Manager 2M said in an excited and yet alarmed tone. "Back to the stronghold! Quickly! Before we're seen!"

Citizen 100F opened her eyes and frowned.

"Why can't we be seen?" she asked, but everyone had already retreated back into the shade of the stronghold.

Citizen 53M pulled her along, too.

Manager 2M said, "Protocol states that no citizens may be seen by the Player unless walking in straight uniformity along the paths designated by the creators."

Citizen 100F frowned again and followed Manager 2M's pointed finger. All the bridges and streets in the cities had a single glowing line. The area just in front of the stronghold didn't have any lines like that.

"Also according to protocol, the number of citizens allowed to walk the city lines are limited to a certain number in each sector. There are too many of us here."

Citizen 100F sighed and tried to peek out into the city again to look at the orb, but it wasn't visible from where she was standing.

A grand, feminine voice suddenly filled the air.

"It's Athena!" Manager 2M said with a broad grin. "Athena only appears for the Players. She'll walk our new Player through the first few steps on how to take care of our city."

"Look! What's that?"

Citizen 100F and the others crowded behind the line to look at the empty slot that had suddenly started glowing.

"Aha! Athena is teaching our Player how to send out commands to build a building!" Manager 2M said. "We have work to do citizens! Time to build!"

The citizens followed Manager 2M back into the inner chamber to look at resources and when to build what kind of buildings. Behind them, Citizen 100F heard Athena's booming voice again.

"Welcome! Congratulations on completing the tutorial!"


	2. Chapter 2: Stronghold Level Five

**Chapter 2: Stronghold Level Five**

Kate was eating a meal in one of the city villas with a room full of other citizens. When she had barely taken one bite, someone sat down next to her and put their own food bowl down. Kate glanced up and saw that it was her friend, Jack.

"Hello, Citizen 100F," he said to her.

"Jack," Kate said. "If you call me Citizen 100F one more time, I promise you, you'll get a face full of my breakfast."

Jack snorted and said, "You're so sensitive. I wouldn't care if you called me Citizen 53M. As long as you say it in a nice, endearing tone."

"Those stupid names were from before the Player's light changed us! Stop it."

"But Citizen 100F, you had such a perfectly round number!"

Kate tossed her bowl full of porridge straight at Jack's face. He dodged, and the bowl hit the wall behind him.

Jack grinned and said, "Sorry, but you're going to have to be quicker than that. A soldier is always faster than a citizen."

Kate scowled at him and said, "Now I don't have a breakfast."

Jack lifted his bowl to her and said, "I'd share mine with you, but…"

Kate waved him away and said, "Yes, I know, I know. The meals given to soldiers come from the resource house, which the Player can see. Don't worry. I don't want your food. I'll just get another bowl from the villa matron."

Kate got up and returned with another bowl. When she sat back down, she turned her head to the side and gave Jack a raised brow.

"I still don't get why you chose to become a soldier," she said. "I heard it could be dangerous."

Jack shrugged and said, "I didn't want to be in the rotation to walk those city lines. I mean come on, whenever the Player Orb lights up, we can't even stop to look at anything. No choice but to walk straight and then back again. It's so boring. At least as a soldier, I can go outside the city."

"Which hasn't happened yet," Kate said dryly.

"It will," Jack said. "You'll see. Once the peace shield Athena put around our city expires, the Player will send us out, and we'll get to do all sorts of things."

"That's only for attacks," Kate said. "Technically, you could still be sent out even when the city has a shield up. Not sure yet what the purpose would be."

"We'll find out," Jack said.

"You're right," Kate said with a nod. "We're still a new city, and we're all learning. Even the Player is still learning."

Suddenly, the door to the villa opened, and a large group of people stumbled inside. Kate didn't even bother looking at the door, but she chuckled at their frantic entrance.

"Looks like the Player Orb lit up when they were still walking through the streets," she said softly to Jack, but he didn't say anything back to her.

She frowned at him and followed his open mouthed gaze back at the crowd that had just entered. Among the plain citizens wearing togas and robes, one person wore something completely different.

She had on a leather top, nothing covering her stomach, a leather skirt, and boots all covered with a second layer of thin leather and metal plating. She held an enormous hammer with one hand, and she had a great shield tied to her back. She also had bright red hair tied up into buns on either side of her head.

Kate gasped in recognition. It was the city's hero, Adileh.

The room went dead silent.

"Someone should say something to her," Jack whispered.

"Then you go say something," Kate whispered back. "Aren't you madly in love with her or something?"

"I'm wha…where do you get all these ideas from?" Jack whispered fiercely. "I said I admired her skills as a warrior!"

"Has the Player Orb dimmed at all?" Hero Adileh said to someone close to the window.

"I...uh...n-no…not…w-wait…" the citizen closest to the window stammered. "Ah! Yes! It's dimmed! The Player is looking outside the city!"

"Good," Hero Adileh said and promptly opened the door.

As soon as she left, everyone chatted excitedly.

"Did you see that? The hero was here!"

"I have to tell Citizen 564F that I was in the same room with Hero Adileh!"

"Has he still not changed his name? If he ever wants to get into the army and impress Hero Adileh, he shouldn't keep his original citizen name."

"Did you see her hammer? She's so strong!"

"So," Kate said to Jack. "Is she as perfect up close as she seemed in her portrait?"

"Will you stop?" Jack said with a frown.

Kate grinned and said, "How else am I supposed to react? You talk about her all the time."

"I do not talk about her all the time!" Jack said. "I told you. I admire her. At least that's better than your gushing obsession with our Player."

Kate punched Jack in the shoulder and said, "I am not obsessed!"

Jack raised a brow at her. He put his spoon down and brought his hands up to his mouth.

"Is that our Player?" he said in a higher toned voice. "Oh! He's soooo handsome!"

"Jack!" Kate hissed. "Stop it! I'm warning you!"

"Oh, I could spend the whole day in the Profile Room!" Jack continued. "Look at the blue toga he's wearing! The toga style looks so much better on him than regular citizens!"

Kate punched him on the shoulder again, but it did nothing.

Jack continued with a dramatic sigh, "That dark hair of his is so much glossier than anyone else's hair. And that close shaven beard and hint of mustache!"

"That's it!" Kate said and leaped out of her seat.

She launched herself at Jack, who had started laughing. Kate's weight pushed him off his seat, and the two of them crashed onto the floor. Jack was still laughing.

"It's…not…funny!" Kate lightly slapped Jack's shoulder, chest, and smacked him on his head.

"Ok, ok! I'm sorry!"

Suddenly, someone squealed in excitement.

"The Player started construction on the Stronghold!"

Everyone got up from their seats and crowded the windows. Kate sat up but didn't try to move to the window.

"Wow, construction on the Stronghold again?" Jack said and sat up, too. "The Player must have been using speed ups to make the construction on all the other buildings go faster."

"We'll be at Stronghold level five," Kate said with a smile.

"Yeah," Jack said. "It's amazing. I thought it would take longer since getting the Stronghold up to level five requires so many of the other buildings to be at level four first."

"I think we got lucky," Kate said. "I've heard that some empire cities have disinterested Players who don't care much about their city. Some Players even abandon their cities after finishing Athena's tutorial."

"Yeah, you're right," Jack said. "But I wish our Player would rename the city and himself. I mean Empire 135588477 as a city and player name is worse than Citizen 100F or Citizen 53M. At least I can say our old names, but those string of numbers is a little too much. Hero Adileh's lucky that the default name for her was an actual name with no numbers."

"He'll change it," Kate said. "Don't worry. He's just busy building up our city power and the Stronghold."

Jack raised a skeptical brow at Kate.

"We haven't even joined an alliance yet," he said. "From what I've heard, Players usually do that first because the city gets a hundred gold just for joining."

She poked Jake in the chest and said, "He'll have us join an alliance eventually, and I know he'll change the names. I believe in him. So, stop doubting."

She gave him another hard poke.

"Ok, ok. I'll believe in him, too," Jack said and put his hands up in surrender. Then with a soft smile, he added, "But only because I believe in _you_."

Kate blinked.

"What?"

Jack shrugged and said, "I'm just saying that I think you have a good sense of people and things. You're the best out of all of us."

Kate smiled and put her head on his shoulder, putting her arms around him.

"This is why we're friends," she said in a happy tone.

Jack gently put his head against hers and briefly returned her hug.

"Come on," he said. "We should finish breakfast."

Kate nodded, and they helped each other up.

"Reminds me of the first day we met," Jack said with that same soft smile. "Minus the bowl throwing and knocking me to the ground."

Kate playfully slapped his arm. With a grin Jack started eating again, and Kate returned to her bowl of porridge.

With another contented smiled, she glanced over at the windows still crowded with citizens watching the construction on the Stronghold.

Stronghold level five already. Amazing.


	3. Chapter 3: Abandoned

**Chapter 3: Abandoned**

Kate looked around at all the buildings in the city with a happy smile. There was the villa, the hospital, the watchtower, the storehouse, the forge, the barracks, and the academy. The dungeon was there, too, but no one had dared go inside it, especially since the Player hadn't gone into it yet either. There was also the treasury, but it was locked up. Even the managers couldn't get inside. Not until the Stronghold was level fifteen.

"Only ten more levels to go," Kate said softly and proudly looked over at their Stronghold.

It was much bigger now than when it had been level one. There was even a soldier in full uniform ceremoniously standing guard.

Kate checked the Player Orb and seeing that it was dark, she left the building she was in. She didn't want to get stuck with street walking duty if the Player Orb suddenly lit up. Jack was right about it being boring. So she ran through the streets as fast as she could.

Kate soon reached the city gates and walked outside towards the city's land plots. There were still barren spots of land, but there was also a farm, a quarry, a mine, and a logging camp.

Citizens assigned to those areas were busy working. Kate went to the farm and watched the citizen assigned to the farm for this shift diligently harvesting the small rows of grain. Finally, she continued on her way off the path to the one forbidden area outside the city walls.

The graveyard.

Like the treasury, the entrance to this place was locked and would remain locked until the Stronghold reached level fifteen. Kate didn't know why the place fascinated her, but it did.

Maybe it was because this place was a possible future for their hero.

No enemy city would kill a hero from a city under level fifteen. The creators wouldn't allow it. But once their city did reach that level, which Kate had no doubt that they would, their Hero Adileh would have to live with the possibility of execution.

Kate shuddered.

Although she didn't admire Adileh the way Jack did, Kate still looked up to her. Adileh was in essence the commander of their army and leader of their city apart from the Player. Even the managers didn't have her status. She was also the only citizen in the entire city who received direct commands from the Player. If anything happened to their hero…no, Kate didn't even want to imagine such a disastrous event.

Suddenly, out of the corner of her eye, she saw a soldier running down the paths towards her general direction. It was Jack.

Kate smiled and glanced up at the Player Orb. It was still dark.

She motioned for Jack to reach her quickly. If the Player Orb lit up, they would have to run for the city wall since soldiers never did street walking duty. There was this one section of the wall facing the graveyard that always cast a shadow when the Player Orb lit up. No light meant they were out of the Player's line of sight.

When Jack came closer, Kate stopped smiling. He looked upset. His expression wasn't the normal "run as fast as you can before the Player Orb lights up" expression.

Finally, he reached her.

"Jack?" Kate said. "What's wrong?"

He didn't say anything. He was breathing hard from the run, but his face was serious. More worrisome, the light in his eye as he looked at her was dark yet urgent. She'd never seen him wear an expression like that before.

A million possible accidents or possible mishaps ran through her mind before her brain honed in on an impossible yet horrible scenario.

"Oh no," She gasped and then said in one breath, "Did the creators change the rules of the world so that enemies can sneak into the city, steal our hero, and execute her even though she's low level and technically shouldn't be executable or even capturable since we're not at level ten or fifteen?"

Jack blinked. The serious expression on his face broke, and he let out a short, hearty laugh.

"Oh, Kate," he said, still out of breath. "Your imagination is so broad and colorful. You always amaze me."

Kate let out a sigh of relief.

"Well, you scared me with that face of yours! You looked so upset."

Jack's laughter faded, and his serious expression returned.

"Out with it," Kate said and put her hands on her hips. "I'm going to find out eventually. What is it? Did they kick you out of the army with a replacement? Did they give you double shifts of street walking duty? Come on, spit it out!"

Instead of answering her, he quietly reached out a hand to tuck a single curl of hair behind her ear. She followed his hand with her eyes, then looked back at his face. She raised a brow at him.

He said softly, "I'm glad our city was created, because I got to meet you."

"I've never seen you like this," she said with a frown. "What's going on?"

Jack visibly swallowed, and to Kate's surprise, he pulled her into his arms.

"I am so, so sorry," he whispered in her ear. "More than anyone else, I know how much you believed."

"Jack," Kate said and struggled in his embrace.

He wouldn't let her go and only tightened his grip.

"Will you stop being so sentimental," she said, "and tell me what's going on?"

Finally, Jack released her. He turned his head to the side, avoiding her gaze, and muttered something.

"Jack!" Kate said. "I'm going to leave unless you spit it out loud and clear!"

Jack sighed and still avoiding her gaze, he said, "The bridge is gone."

"What?"

"The Player Bridge, the one connecting us to the Player himself…it's gone. The Player deconstructed it."

Kate frowned. She understood the words coming out of Jack's mouth, but at the same time, the implications and meaning of those words escaped her.

"What are you saying? I don't – "

"We've been abandoned, Kate," Jack said and this time, he looked her straight in the eye. "Our city doesn't have a Player watching over it anymore."

Kate shook her head in denial.

"No, I don't believe you. Our Player would never – "

"He already has."

Kate shook her head again, and Jack tried to embrace her again.

"No!" Kate said and pushed away from Jack. "I don't believe you!"

She turned and ran down the grassy area back onto the path to the city gates.

"Kate!" Jack called, but she ignored him.

She just had to get back to the Stronghold and look in the Profile Room. It would show her what she wanted to know.

By the time Kate reached the city gate and went up the first tier, she was out of breath. Even though her lungs burned, she didn't stop. Several people greeted her as she passed, but she ignored them.

Only one thought was on her mind.

The Player… _her_ Player would never abandon them. It just wasn't possible. The bridge would be there. It had to be.

Kate reached the Stronghold and just as she entered it, she ran smack into someone.

"Manager 2M!" Kate said breathlessly.

"It's Zeus now. I renamed myself earlier today," he said. "Although it looks like I changed my name for nothing."

Kate shook her head and whispered, "No…why…why would you say that?"

Zeus gave her a pained smile and said, "From your face, I can already tell that Jack told you what happened."

Kate shook her head again.

"Go inside…see for yourself."

Kate didn't need any more encouragement. She ran inside and entered the central chamber. She ignored the command table and headed straight for the Profile Room.

It was one of her favorite rooms in the Stronghold. It was actually a large chamber with rows and rows of stone slabs written with all sorts of information. Beyond the slabs, the far wall also had several doors that led to other rooms such as the Hero Room, the Boosts Room, Comments Room, and even the Graveyard Room. But those were the rooms that the Player was able to enter. There was one more room, but it never lit up with the presence of the Player's light.

The Orb Room.

Kate went straight for that doorway. It led to a long staircase that went up and up.

She ran up the stairs until it opened out to a large balcony. Beyond the balcony, there was mostly a vast expanse of empty space, except for a grand, stone platform with a great white orb much larger than the one that floated above the city.

Normally, the orb would be floating above the platform with several silver rings floating beneath it, connecting the orb to the platform. At the far end of the platform, there had also been a majestic silver bridge that went on and on for as far as the eye could see.

The bridge was gone, and the silver rings weren't visible, because the orb had crashed down onto them. The rings were probably underneath the orb and the crater it had made in the stone platform.

Kate went to the balcony rails and for several moments, she stared unbelieving at the crashed orb. Finally, her legs gave out from underneath her, and she slid down to the floor.

She put her hand to her mouth, and for the first time in her life, tears filled up her eyes and flowed down her cheeks in a steady stream. She let out an unhappy low sound in between halted breaths.

"I'm so sorry, Kate."

Kate didn't lift up her head at Jack's voice, but she allowed him to put his arms around her. She leaned into him.

"Just because a Player abandons a city doesn't mean the end, you know," Jack said. "A city still remains in the world even without a Player. We still exist. As long as the creators leave us alone and don't destroy us, we'll continue to exist. As far as I'm concerned, that's all that matters."

Kate didn't answer. She simply gripped Jack's shirt and bawled into it. The center of her chest hurt. The sharp pain there was unlike anything she had ever experienced before.

She cried for a long time, and the pain never quite went away.

Meanwhile, Jack held her quietly and patiently.


	4. Chapter 4: Attacked

**Chapter 4: Attacked**

Every citizen was on the wall today. Kate and Jack were on the wall, too. They were all there for one purpose: to watch the peace shield that Athena had put up expire.

"I never did get to go out," Jack said softly.

Kate put an arm on Jack's shoulder and gently squeezed it. He turned to her with a soft smile that she returned.

Suddenly, the iridescent blue glow of the peace shield wavered and changed to an iridescent shade of purple. Then it rippled into nothingness, and the familiar shimmer beyond the city limits disappeared. The shield was gone.

"So, what's going to happen to us now?" Kate said softly. "Will enemies attack us?"

"I don't know," Jack said. "But maybe we'll get lucky, and no one will notice us."

Now that the shield was gone, everyone slowly returned to the city and their homes. Kate lingered a bit longer at the wall, and Jack stayed with her.

Her gaze wandered to the farms, logging camps, quarries, and mines. Several citizens were walking to them for their shift to produce resources for the city.

"What's the point?" she said softly to Jack.

"What do you mean?"

Kate pointed at their fellow citizens going to their shifts.

"What's the point of farming, mining, just…what's the point? We can't even use the resources we gather, except for the food for the soldiers. Everything else, only the Player can release them for us to use. We can't even build another building right now."

"We'll keep doing our jobs until we reach our city's cap of resources. We have to," Jack said. "The Player may not see us anymore, but the creators can. We don't want to stand out and give them any reason to erase our city and all of us with it."

Kate blew out a breath and leaned against the wall.

"Come on, Kate," Jack said. "It's hot out. Why don't we go for a swim? We don't have to worry about being caught by the Player's light. So, we could probably jump from the top of the falls if we wanted to."

Kate raised one brow and said, "You mean the one behind the Stronghold?"

"I know you've been wanting to do it since you first saw those falls," Jack said. "Well, this is your chance."

"Ok, maybe," Kate said nonchalantly. "But we'll have to see who can get there first."

Jack looked at her with a puzzled frown and said, "What do you – "

Kate pushed off the wall and started running.

She yelled behind her, "Race ya!"

Kate ran as fast as she could, but as she was going up the last steps leading up to the third tier where the Stronghold was, Jack passed her.

"Remember, soldiers are faster than citizens!" he said with a laugh.

Kate huffed and shouted, "That's why I gave myself a head start!"

When she finally reached the Stronghold, Jack was waiting for her with a big grin.

"So what do I get for winning?" he said.

Kate gave him a mock scowl and playfully punched him on the arm.

"You get to jump first when we climb up the top of the falls," she said.

Jack laughed and led her to the foot of the cliffs where a beautiful waterfall was feeding the clear blue pool behind the Stronghold. He bent down and picked up several different pieces of equipment for climbing.

Kate looked at that and asked, "What's all that for?"

Jack chuckled and said, "Kate, only you would think it possible to climb to the top of the falls with your bare hands and feet. Look at how tall and vertical it is. We need equipment to get up there. I got Heph at the forge to make us some climbing tools."

"Well, that's ridiculous," Kate said. "I am _not_ going to do rock climbing when all I want is a challenging jump into a nice, cool pool. We should talk to Zeus about building a pathway up to the top from behind the cliff. It's out of the orb's sight, so we don't need Player materials or anything to build it."

Jack said, "That's a good idea. It would give everyone something to do, too. Especially once the city reaches its resource capacity, and we don't need to produce resources anymore."

Kate nodded happily.

"But for now," Jack said. "It's either climb or just go for a quiet swim with no jumping."

"All right, all right," Kate said. "Give me some of that rope."

Jack grinned at her.

* * *

Kate stood at the top of the falls with Jack. It was amazing what their city looked like from such a great height. She could even see past the farms to the edge of their city limits. At this height, they were even higher than the dark Player Orb floating above their city.

Since they didn't have to worry about the Player Orb lighting up, neither of them were in appropriate clothes. Kate wore a sleeveless top that barely covered her stomach and a short skirt. Jack wore only a toga skirt, no shirt, and none of his soldier gear. Those were all down next to the pool.

After taking a good long look at the city, she then turned behind her at the path that led up to the top of these falls and smiled.

"I can't believe how quickly we got that path built," Kate said to Jack.

"Well, pretty much everyone joined the effort. I think even Zeus and the other managers were relieved that the citizens had something to do."

"Yeah," Kate said softly. "I couldn't believe that they even encouraged falls jumping as a sport. They weren't so laid back before."

Jack said, "Well, I'm glad only a handful of us have had the courage to jump the falls. Otherwise, it would get too crowded here for my taste."

Kate was glad, too. Although there were a few others who liked to jump the falls, there were many stretches of time when no one was up here except for her and Jack.

Kate stepped towards the edge and said, "I'll go first today."

Just as she was about to jump off, a red flash caught her eye. She frowned and squinted down to see where the light was coming from.

The watchtower.

Kate widened her eyes in alarm and turned to Jack to warn him. She didn't need to. He was already at her side.

"Watchtower," he said grimly. "That can only mean one of two things."

"You think it's a scout or an attack?" Kate said and chewed her lip with worry.

"Don't know, but we have to get down there fast," Jack said.

They locked gazes and nodded at each other. With a great leap, they both jumped off and fell down into the deep pool just behind the Stronghold. The water rushed up at Kate and covered her in a delicious cold stream of bubbles.

She swam up and broke the surface with a gasp. Without waiting to see where Jack was, she swam to the more shallow section of the pool towards the steps leading up to the backdoor of the Stronghold. She now saw that Jack was already at the top of the stairs changing into his soldier garb.

"Does being a soldier make you fall faster, too?" she said.

Jack paused in the middle of putting on his boot and grinned at her. Kate didn't bother changing into her robe dress. As soon as Jack was dressed in his soldier's uniform, the two of them entered the Stronghold into the central chamber.

Zeus was standing at the command table speaking with the other managers. Hero Adileh was there, too.

"When did the scout arrive?" Hero Adileh said.

"A few Player minutes ago," Zeus said. "Do you think an attack will follow?"

"It's best to be prepared," Hero Adileh said and grimaced. "It's a pity we can't put a peace shield up. We have one."

Zeus sighed and said, "Yes, it's locked in the Player's inventory."

Hero Adileh looked up from the table and glanced in Kate and Jack's direction. As soon as she saw Jack, she fully turned to them.

"You should be out with the rest of the army in case of an attack, soldier," she said with a raised brow.

Jack straightened and put his fisted hand to his breast in a salute.

Zeus also saw them and addressed Kate.

"Stay indoors, Kate," he said to her. "Normal citizens aren't allowed outside during an attack. If the enemy catches you on the streets, they can do whatever they want with you. Not even the creators notice what happens to regular citizens."

"But what if they try to enter any of the buildings?" Jack said.

He was giving Kate a worried glance. She rolled her eyes.

"Don't worry, I can take care of myself. I'll just set up a line of breakfast bowls and throw them at any enemy trying to get in."

"They're soldiers," Jack said with a frown. "They're faster than citizens, remember?"

Zeus said, "The hospital should be the safest building. I don't think those can be burned. And even they can, if she takes a shift as a caretaker, they might be more lenient."

"Burned?" both Kate and Jack said at the same time.

Adileh said, "Yes, if the army is powerful enough to overwhelm our forces completely, they'll start torching the buildings and fields outside."

"But our hospital is low level!" Jack protested. "It's not a building! It's a tent!"

Suddenly, a red light flashed and bathed the Stronghold in a low, ominous light. Hero Adileh reached and pushed an icon on the command table. A symbol popped up and hovered in the air.

Kate swallowed. It was a sword on a red square.

"To your post, soldier!" Hero Adileh said to Jack then turned to Zeus and asked, "How much time until the enemy arrives?"

"Four Player minutes."

Hero Adileh rushed outside. Jack and Kate followed her.

To Kate's surprise, when they reached the second tier, instead of continuing to follow Hero Adileh, Jack grabbed Kate's hand and took her to the hospital.

"Jack!" Kate said. "What are you doing?"

"You're going to stay here," he said firmly and motioned to one of the hospital caretakers. "Today, you're going on caretaker duty."

Kate put her hands on her hips and said, "What makes you think I'll – "

"I need you to be safe!" Jack shouted.

Kate blinked at him and dropped her hands from her hips.

"Chances are that the enemy coming will outnumber us," he said. "I can't fight unless I know that at the very least, you'll be safe."

"At the very least? Jack…"

Kate's heart stopped for a moment when she realized what he was saying.

"No," she said and shook her head. "No, that's not possible. You'll be ok. You'll fight and win…right?"

She saw him swallow.

They looked into each other's eyes and even though he didn't say anything, Kate knew he was trying to tell her good-bye.

"Jack…I'll…I'll see you again, right?"

Jack suddenly swooped forward and captured her lips with his in a short, fierce motion. It took less than a second for Jack to lift his face and gaze down at her with a swirl of emotion in his eyes.

Kate blinked at him once, then twice.

"Promise me you'll stay inside," he said.

"Why did you…what…I – "

"Promise!" he said. "I know you! You'll go running out in the streets to try and do some good that'll only end up with you either captured or erased. So, promise!"

Jack's tone was both stern and desperate.

"I…" Kate swallowed. "I promise."

"Good," he said and pulled her into a tight embrace.

At first, Kate didn't hug him back and instead, blinked again several times. When had this happened? For how long had Jack…

But after a moment, she put her arms around him and put her head into his chest. She breathed in deeply and squeezed her eyes shut.

"This isn't the last time, right?" Kate whispered.

"Shhh," Jack said. "Everything will be ok."

All too soon, he released her, and an uncomfortable cough next to them snapped Kate back to their surrounding environment.

Jack turned to the caretaker and said, "Do me a favor. Make sure she keeps her promise."

"No worries, Jack," the caretaker said. "We'll keep her safe. Strength to you, soldier. Guard us well. We'll have a bed waiting for you here should you need it."

Jack closed his fist and brought it up to his breast in a strong salute.

With one last look at Kate, Jack turned and left. Kate immediately turned away and blinked again and again.

She then looked up at the caretaker and said, "What can I do to help?"

The caretaker smiled and said, "Let's start straightening up the beds. I have a heavy feeling we're going to need them."

* * *

Kate had never known that the feet of soldiers marching in unison could sound like an ominous, pounding drum. She poked her head out the side of the hospital tent and tapped her feet impatiently. Finally, she saw someone run around the corner towards her.

"Kate!" Citizen 88M said and waved at her.

Kate breathed a sigh of relief.

"88!" Kate said. "You have it?"

88M reached her and nodded.

"I have the report," he said. "The witnesses are still compiling more data before sending the battle report to the Mail Room, but they gave me what they recorded so far."

"Ok, spit it out."

88M paused and said, "You're not going to like it."

Kate crossed her arms and said, "Just tell me."

88M cleared his throat and said, "Battle at K:565 X:493…"

"Just skip to the enemy stats," Kate said. "I want to know the numbers."

"Our army: 220 troops. Hero: Adileh. Level: 8."

Kate listened intently.

"Opponent army: 5577 troops. Hero: Pelagia. Level: 19."

"Five- _thousand_?!" Kate said.

"And five hundred and seventy-seven," 88M added.

"Hero level _nineteen_?!" Kate said in disbelief. "Are you sure?"

"And…uh…enemy hero skills are ranged attack and boosted troop attack…"

"But…but Adileh doesn't have skills like that! She doesn't stand a chance! And neither does our army!"

"I told you, you wouldn't like it," 88M said with a wince. "They also have a whole list of research bonuses. Do you want to hear it?"

Kate numbly shook her head and said, "No…I don't need it."

"I'm sorry, Kate," 88M said.

"What's going to happen to Jack? And Hero Adileh?" Kate said.

"Hero Adileh has the creators' protection," 88M said. "But Jack…he'll probably get death wounds and end up here in the hospital. It'll be ok, Kate."

Kate vehemently shook her head.

"No…no, it won't."

"He can't be erased while he's in the city," 88M said in an encouraging tone. "That means he can be brought back."

"Oh, 88…" Kate said softly and dropped down to the floor. "It's not going to be ok."

88M knelt down next to her in alarm.

She said, "We don't have a Player, remember? Only Players can heal troops."

88M's eyes widened, and he plopped down onto the floor with Kate.

"I have to go to him," Kate said. "This might be my last chance to talk to him."

Kate scrambled to her feet, but just as quickly, 88M put his arms around her waist and grabbed her. They both fell forward.

"Let me go! I have to go to him!"

"There's nothing you can do for him now! The enemy's already here! Everyone knows why Jack put you here in the hospital! You promised!"

Kate struggled to release 88M's grip around her, but he only gripped harder.

"What do you care?" Kate said frantically. "Let me go! I can at least be with him one last time!"

Tears streamed down her cheeks, and she tugged at 88M's gridlocked hands.

"We don't even have a Player anymore," Kate said in one last desperate attempt. "Jack's all I've got!"

"And you're all _we've_ got!" 88M said in just as desperate a tone.

Kate stopped struggling and blinked at 88M.

"What?"

"You don't know how important you are to us, do you?" 88M said. "You and Jack are the special ones from the second batch."

The second batch? Was 88M talking about the second batch of citizens awakened in the city? Citizens 50M to 100M and 50F to 100F.

"What? You're from that batch, too," Kate said. "What are you trying to say?"

"You, Jack, Manda, Toffer, Lobby, Erick – "

"88, get to the point," Kate said.

"Nine of you were hit with the power anomaly that has the same properties as the Player's light, just as we were coming into awareness," 88M said. "I was on the opposite side from where the light struck, so it missed hitting me at all.

"And?"

"None of us noticed how different all of you were until the Player abandoned us. The managers only thought that our group had higher information absorption rates, which is true. But the nine of you have more than that."

"What are you talking about?"

"Think about it," 88M said. "You, Jack, and the others are the ones who got all of us to change our citizen names to more Player-like names. Even the managers followed your lead. And you and Jack were the ones who came up with the idea to build the path leading up to the falls."

Kate frowned and said, "Anyone could have come up with those ideas. Besides, you haven't changed yours, yet."

"I'm still thinking about it," 88M said. "And technically, you gave me a new name. You were the first to just call me 88, instead of 88M."

"That was just to shorten it," Kate said. "I didn't really give you a name."

88M shook his head and said, "You know how we all changed and became more aware, more creative…just _more_...every time the Player's light shined down on us?"

Kate nodded and swallowed. The warm light soaking into the center of her being and lifting up her spirits, her thoughts, expanding her very being…she missed that light.

"We still get a shadow if it whenever we're around you, Jack, and the others," 88M said. "You shine with Player's light. We can't see it, but we feel it."

"That's…that's impossible!" Kate blinked at 88M's earnest face. She then pressed her lips together in a determined line and said, "If that's the case, then it's all the more reason to do something to help Jack."

88M shook his head and said, "I told you, it's probably too late for him. But we can at least keep you safe."

"88! I am _not_ going to sit around and – "

He cut her off and said, "Out of the nine of you, if the citizens had to pick one of you to save, it would be you, Kate."

"Wha – ?"

"You're the strongest," 88M said. "The light in you is so strong, that sometimes, at the right angle, we can see it shining from you. Now that the Player's abandoned us, you're all we've got. Even Hero Adileh spread the word to keep all of the special ones from second batch safe, but especially you."

"Then Jack…"

"He had already joined the troops by the time we realized how different all of you were," 88M said. "It's a good thing he was the only one to become a soldier."

"But – "

The sudden deafening sound of thousands of feet cut her off, and a stream of soldiers came into view. Their uniforms were yellow instead of the red she was used to seeing.

"Enemy troops," 88M said.

Kate scrambled to her feet. 88M let her get up, but then Kate felt his arms go around her arms and chest.

This time, she didn't struggle. It really was too late now. There was no way past the soldiers filling the streets.

A few soldiers in red rushed forward to meet the enemy, but they were severely outnumbered. For every one red uniform Kate saw, there were twenty-four yellow uniforms. Within moments, everyone wearing red was lying motionless on the streets.

The enemy soldiers lifted their hands up and down in a triumphant motion over the unmoving bodies of red uniformed soldiers. In unison, they cried a wordless chant of victory.

It was unbearable to hear and watch.

Kate turned her head away and sobbed. Immediately, 88M's grip on her loosened, and she turned to weep into his shirt. He held her briefly, but then she felt him quietly back up deeper into the hospital tent.

At first, she didn't resist, but then she pushed away from him long enough to go to the edge of the tent and look up at the dark orb hanging over the city.

"I believed in you!" she wailed.

The enemy's chant was her only answer.


	5. Chapter 5: Dead City

**Chapter 5: Dead City**

Hero Adileh grimly watched the caretakers carry the last soldier into the hospital tent. Every soldier from the outriders to the battering rams had been lost. Many citizens were helping the caretakers make the unresponsive soldiers comfortable on the hospital beds.

Adileh was grateful that before the Player had abandoned them, he had at least built up the hospital to a high enough level to house all the soldiers. None of them had been erased, only wounded…although, permanently wounded didn't seem very different from erased.

The closest bed to Adileh had a soldier lying with his hands folded over his chest. He didn't look wounded anymore. None of them did, but a red glow surrounded his body. Nothing but the Player's light could remedy that.

Beyond this soldier's bed, Adileh noticed Kate sitting next to another bed. She was gently wiping the brow of one of the swordsmen.

Adileh grimaced.

The loss of Jack had been a heavy blow for many reasons.

Kate dropped her hand and sniffled.

Adileh grimaced again.

When she tilted her head at just the right angle, she could see the quiet shine emanating from Kate's body. Usually, that light was a bright white or yellow. Right now, there was also a blue sheen to it.

Adileh stepped up to Kate and said, "We managed to kill two of the enemy soldiers. It's not much, but considering how outnumbered we were, I think we did well."

"Hero Adileh!" Kate said and jumped up as if to stand at attention.

Adileh wryly smiled and said, "You're not a soldier, Kate. Please, don't stand up on my behalf."

Kate nodded and sat down again.

Adileh motioned with her head at Jack's sleeping form and said, "I got a single kill before I was overwhelmed, and Jack got the other. He fought harder and more bravely than anyone else, myself included."

Kate sniffled and said, "Thank you for trying to comfort me, Hero Adileh. I…"

Tears rolled down Kate's cheek, and sniffling again, she said in a cracked voice, "I'm really grateful."

"It's Adileh," Adileh said to Kate.

For a moment, Kate paused and blinked her tears away.

"Pardon?" she said.

"No need to put the hero title," Adileh said. "You can just call me Adileh."

"I…uh…thank you," Kate said. "I'm not sure if I can do it right away, but…but I'll try."

Kate tried to smile, but Adileh could still see the blue sheen around her. If anything, that blue shade became a little brighter and deeper. It momentarily filled Adileh's sight, and something inside her wrenched with pity. A sudden determination crept into her consciousness.

Adileh nodded and said, "I know how much Jack meant to you, but this isn't over. We'll find a way to get not just him, but all of our soldiers back. Player or no Player."

Kate blinked and said, "Really? I…you're right," she said. Her lips set into a firm line, and she grabbed Adileh's hands. "Thank you, Hero…uh….I mean, Adileh. Thank you!"

Kate smiled, and the glow around Kate became golden. A warm sensation filled Adileh's insides and seeped into her bones.

"No," Adileh said softly. "Thank _you_."

Kate furrowed her brows, but Adileh only nodded at her.

Adileh then turned to leave the tent, and on her way out, she turned back to Kate and said, "And don't stay in here all day. He's not going anywhere. Take the time to go out for a stroll, visit other citizens, and relax. Hero's orders."

Adileh was glad to see Kate's quiet smile turn into a short laugh.

"Thank you, He…ah…Adileh. I will."

Adileh nodded and left the hospital.

* * *

The watchtower flashed red again and again. Kate ran to the city wall and looked over it. Enemy troops were already marching towards the gate.

"This again?" a familiar deep voice said next to her.

It was Erick. He was leaning against the wall with her and frowning down at the enemy troops.

Kate smiled at him. It never ceased to amaze her that such a deep voice came from such a childlike face. His dark, wispy hair hair, big wide eyes, and round face made him look much younger than most of the other citizens.

He also had much darker skin than the average citizen, which was why he was always allowed to skip street walking duty or had to put on makeup to change the tone of his skin to a lighter color.

Kate shook her head. She still didn't understand the limitations the creators had set for what kind of citizens could walk the streets. A citizen was a citizen. But then again, she had a lot of things she wondered about when it came to the rules the creators had set for their world.

"Well," he said. "At least, there don't seem to be as many troops as last time."

"But Erick," Kate said. "We don't have any troops to defend us. They'll destroy the citizens."

Erick grimly nodded and pointing, he said, "You're right. And look, their hero's with them."

Below the city gates, Kate saw a man rousing up the energy of his troops. He had a clean shaven head, bulky arms, and a beard and mustache that covered the lower portion of his face. He had on a blue warrior's skirt, and he carried an enormous golden chain with a large animal's paw hanging off of it. Because he had no shirt on, Kate could also see his muscular ridged chest and stomach.

Kate swallowed and whispered, "He's probably a much higher level than Hero Adileh, right?"

Erick only sighed in response and groaned.

"There must be something we can do," he said. "Something to protect the citizens even without troops. Something the creators won't notice."

Kate sighed and said, "Well, the creators won't notice the soldiers destroying us and taking any of us captive."

Erick groaned again and said, "And knowing Hero Adileh, she and the managers will probably try to hide you, me, and the others. You know how they've all been treating us lately, right?"

Kate rolled her eyes and nodded.

"Yes, I know," she said. "But I am _not_ hiding away – "

Kate stopped and then blinked at the idea that had popped into her head.

"Erick," Kate said and turned to him with wide eyes.

"What? What?" Erick said his eyes becoming wide, too.

Kate leaned forward and gave him a big hug. She then grabbed his hands and brought them up in a small victory shake.

"You…are…an absolute…genius!"

"Uh…your welcome?" Erick said.

"We can hide the citizens!"

"We can?" Erick shook his head and said, "But Kate, no building will successfully hide anyone. The soldiers will only burn them."

"Who said we would hide in the buildings?" Kate said.

Erick raised a brow at her.

Kate dropped his hands and turned to look up towards the third tier and the stronghold.

She continued, "We can hide everybody behind the falls! We made that path, remember? None of these enemy soldiers will think to go behind the Stronghold much less past the falls! Even the thousands of soldiers in the last attack only stayed on the normal city lines, and they only attacked the traditional buildings! They have to! That's what they've been taught, and it's all they know how to do!"

Erick scratched his head and said, "You got a point. Yeah…this might work!"

"I mean, we're a dead city anyway," Kate said. "Might as well make the most of it."

The two of them glanced up at the dark orb.

Kate pushed away the familiar wrench inside her chest every time she looked up at it. She returned her gaze back to Erick with a determined nod.

Erick looked back at Kate, too, and said, "Let's give these soldiers a ghost town."

Kate looked Erick in the eye and said, "Yes, let's."

"I'll go get the others," Erick said.

"I'll get Hero Adileh and the managers," Kate said.

The two nodded at each other and went in opposite directions down the wall. For the first time since Jack was put in the hospital, Kate grinned.

"Attack us all you want," Kate said as she ran. "All you're going to get are resources."


	6. Chapter 6: The Return

**Chapter 6: The Return**

I knocked on my sister's door, but she didn't answer. Finally, I gently opened the door and peeked inside. She was sitting on her bed with her phone. She didn't even notice when I opened the door all the way and walked into her room.

"Hey," I said. "Didn't you hear me knock?"

She looked up and said, "Oh, sorry. I was just doing something on my phone."

"Well, mom and dad are almost done with dinner," I said. "You should come in a few minutes."

"Ok," she said and looked back down at her phone.

"What ya doing?" I asked and sat down next to her to look at her phone.

She showed me and said, "You know that game you were playing a few days ago?"

"Yeah," I said. "The one with the buildings and training soldiers. I already uninstalled it. I got my diamonds."

"Well, I started playing it, too," she said.

"Oh, you like it?"

She shrugged and said, "Yeah, I like building stuff. Hey, did you know you can get a hundred free gold for joining an alliance?"

"Yeah," I said. "I saw that, too, but I wasn't going to really play it, so I didn't bother with it."

"Well, I didn't want to join an alliance or anything, so I started one of my own."

"What?" I said. "You can do that?"

She nodded and said, "But I wanted it to be just me, but then people started joining my alliance. And now I have a hundred members."

"Whoa, already?" I said.

"Yeah, I'm not sure what to do," she said. "I just wanted to get the gold without having to join anyone else's alliance. I didn't know that I was supposed to close my alliance off if I didn't want anyone to join."

"So, now what?"

"I don't know," she said. "I was just trying it out, but now I'm the leader of all these people."

"Let me see," I said.

She showed me her screen, and sure enough, there was a list of a hundred other players in her alliance. She then went to her main page showing the inside of her city. I immediately pointed at the picture on the upper left and laughed.

"You're a guy," I said.

"Yeah, that's my hero," she said. "I'm not sure how to change it."

"Yeah, mine was already a girl," I said.

"Lucky," she said. "Was your profile a guy, too?"

"Profile? No, mine was that girl."

My sister scrunched her brows and said, "I think that's just your hero. Let me show you."

She went to the world map screen and clicked on her city. A different male picture than the one in the city popped up.

"What?" I said. "I didn't know the profile picture was different!"

"So, is yours a guy or a girl?"

"I don't know," I said.

My sister sighed and said, "I wish you were still playing. I don't know what to do with all these people."

I shrugged and said, "I don't know. I just did that game for my diamonds, but if I start it again, I'll join your alliance."

My sister smiled and said, "Well, someone would have to leave my alliance first. One hundred members is the max number of people you can have in an alliance. And I'd have to give you an invite or something. I closed the alliance so that no one else can join."

"Huh," I said. "Well, I guess I can just reinstall it and check it out."

"Dinner," our mom called out to us.

"Coming!" We said at the same time.

"Maybe we can do it after dinner," I said.

We both got up and left her room to go eat.

* * *

Kate smiled down at the rows of buildings the citizens had built behind the falls. They looked very different from any of the buildings in the city. Since the area behind the falls was out of even the creators' sight, they had had free reign with their creativity.

"That was the best idea you've come up with yet, Kate," Erick said next to her.

Kate smiled at him.

She and Erick had climbed up the falls to take an overhead look at their hidden city. Right now, it was just a handful of buildings, but one day, it would be more. 88M was also with them taking notes on what kind of expansion and layout they could have for more buildings.

Suddenly, 88M started chuckling then shaking with restrained laughter, and finally, he was giggling uncontrollably.

"I can't get over it…heehee…did you see the look on those soldiers' faces? They went through the motions of taking our resources, burning our buildings, and even doing that victory chant. But…heehee…they looked so lost when they didn't see a single citizen anywhere in any of the buildings."

Kate smiled.

Still giggling, 88M said, "We should have had a small group of us hiding here and there in the city to make funny noises and scare them out of their uniforms…heehee…hawhaw!"

Kate and Erick chuckled together.

"We might have to do that next time," Erick said with a grin.

A muffled shout from the pathway distracted Kate from 88M. After a little bit, three citizens stumbled up onto the top of the falls completely out of breath. It was Manda, Toffer, and Lobby.

"K…Kate!" Lobby said and pointed down back towards the path.

"What's wrong?" Kate said and rushed over to the three of them.

"B…Bridge…" Manda said and hung her head down to take a deep breath.

"Orb…Room…whew…lighting up!" Toffer finally said in between breaths.

"What?" Kate, Erick, and 88M said at the same time.

"Are you sure?" Kate said with wide eyes.

All three of them nodded.

Instantly, Kate ran to the other side of the cliff.

"Kate!" she heard 88M call out. "Wait for us!"

She didn't slow down and leaped off the edge down into the pool behind the Stronghold. She dived headfirst into the cool water and swam up towards the Stronghold steps. She didn't even bother drying off and rushed inside.

She went straight to the Profile Room and then the Orb Room. She reached the balcony and stared out at the platform. The entire thing was lit up. Even the stones were glowing.

The great orb was still crashed down into the platform, but behind it, Kate could see a partially constructed silver bridge building itself up.

Someone whooped behind her.

Kate turned to 88M and the others, but didn't know what to say.

"Does that mean what I think it means?" Erick said.

Kate turned back to the platform, and they all watched the silver bridge finally finish building itself. The elegant curves of the bridge glowed, and a stream of silver light rushed down from it and into the platform.

The white orb floated up and beneath it, the silver rings lifted themselves up and hovered in tiers. The broken crater in the platform rippled and pulled itself back together until there was no trace of any damage on the platform's smooth stone surface.

As soon as the orb was hanging up in the air, the silver light disappeared. Then in the distance, Kate saw a white flash that grew bigger and bigger.

Finally, a stream of brilliant white light rushed down the silver bridge into the platform, up the rings, and lit up the orb so that it wasn't dark anymore.

"Yahaaaa!" 88M said and jumped into the air with a whoop.

"He's back!" Lobby said with a laugh.

Manda had her hands to her mouth but couldn't hide her wide, happy smile. Meanwhile, Erick went to Kate and shook her shoulders.

"Snap out of it, Kate!" He said with a grin. "We have a Player again!"

"But…but…usually, once they abandon…they never come back…" Kate said.

"Well, ours did, darling," Toffer said with a smile. "Now, shouldn't you be heading to the hospital?"

Kate blinked then gasped.

Everyone grinned at her.

"Go, Kate. Go!" Lobby said with a wave.

"Thanks, everyone," Kate said and turned around to leave the Orb Room.

She ran all the way to edge of the Stronghold, and as soon as the Player Orb dimmed, she ran as hard as she could to the hospital.

She had barely reached the edge of the hospital's tent when the Player Orb lit up again, and a bright splash of light hit the tent and all the beds inside.

In excitement, Kate ran to Jack's bed.

He was awake.


	7. Chapter 7: Learning

**Chapter 7: Learning**

Zeus wiped the sweat off his brow and wondered when this chaotic day would be over. He was in the Items Room, which had rows and rows of crystal encased shelves full of items and inventory.

He stood in the center of the room on a raised balcony with the other managers directing hundreds of citizens back and forth. A Player Orb hung from the ceiling in the middle of the room just above his head. It was brightly lit up and flaring light at different shelves.

At this moment, a stream of bright, flaring light touched one of the shelves and an item on it. The item floated up and passed through the thick crystal walls of its encasing. It hung just outside the shelf until a citizen picked it up.

The citizen carrying it wobbled under its weight, and several other citizens next to him rushed over to help.

"Whoa! Whoa!" Zeus said. "Careful with that!"

Juno, another manager, said, "That's a Hero Rename! Wait for it to open, then carry it to the Hero's Room!"

Suddenly, a flare of light from the Player Orb flashed and touched the Hero Rename. The item glowed and opened up like a flower. A blank scroll rose up from the opening and hovered in the air.

Everyone in the room gasped in excitement. Was Hero Adileh going to get a new name?

Another flare of light flashed and touched the Hero Rename again. The scrolled rolled up unwritten, and the item closed up into its original shape. Another tendril of light flared towards the Hero Rename, and the item floated up and moved backwards to its original place on the shelf. On its way to the shelf, it carried the three citizens holding the item back with it.

"Citizens!" Zeus said. "You can let go of it now. Quickly! Before – "

They crashed into the shelf as the item passed back through the crystal encasing.

All the managers winced.

"Ooh, that's gotta hurt," Juno said.

Another flare from the Player Orb touched another item on a different shelf.

"Zeus."

Zeus turned to the citizen addressing him. It was Kate.

"Can't help you now, Kate," Zeus said. "We're all a little busy right now."

"Yes, I know," Kate said. "Hero Adileh sent me to ask if you needed more citizens to help."

In the background, Zeus heard another set of citizens crash into the shelves and winced.

"I don't need more people," he said. "I need more _trained_ people. Not everyone is like your batch. Too many of the other citizen batches just don't have as high information absorption rates like yours. Even 88M learns faster than this."

"What's going on?" Kate said and frowned up at the Player Orb. "Why is the Player touching so many items one after another and not using them?"

"I think – "

 _CRASH!_

Zeus winced and said, "I think he's trying to figure out what everything is for. All the different items in the inventory. Sometimes we get a lull when the Player lingers on a single item. We think he might be reading the different descriptions and trying out an item before actually using it, then putting it back."

"You can try out an item?" Kate said in astonishment.

"Well, not all. But some things like the Hero Rename can be opened up. The Player will open it, and when the scroll to input the hero's new name appears above the item, the Player puts it back without writing anything."

 _CRASH!_

Wince.

"How many times do I have to tell all of you!" Juno shouted down at the citizens. "If the item is going back into the inventory, LET GO!"

Zeus shook his head and let out a deep sigh. To his relief, the orb above their heads suddenly dimmed.

"Whew!" Juno said next to him. "I didn't think he'd ever be finished going through the items."

Kate asked, "Has the Player gone away for the day?"

Zeus pulled his manager's medallion out from under his shirt and gazed at it. The large center white jewel on the medallion was glowing, which meant the Player was present in the world. The medallion was also separated into four sections around the large central jewel: the world map on the upper left, the city map on the upper right, the rooms on the lower right, and commands on the lower left. Right now, the small white jewel at the center of the world map section was lit up.

"No, he hasn't. He's out looking at the world."

Just as Zeus was about to put his medallion back into his shirt, the white jewel in the middle of the command section lit up. A moment later, a small purple jewel next to the command jewel lit up, too.

"Commands!" Zeus said. "The Player is sending out our army!"

Kate gasped and said, "Are we attacking another city?"

Zeus could hear the excitement in Kate's voice. Next to him, Juno also lifted her manager's medallion and after looking at it, she shook her head.

"Purple jewel. I think he's sending them out to a tile," she said.

"All of them?" Kate asked.

"We won't know until we get to the command center," Zeus said and turned to the rest of the room. "Let's go, everyone! We need to have the commanded number of troops ready to leave the city before the Player's command flare returns to the orb!"

Together, all the managers except for the designated Items Room managers left the room and went to the central command table. As soon they learned that every single troop had been called to leave, Kate made her excuses and bounded out of the Stronghold. Zeus wryly watched her go.

"She's out in a hurry," Juno said next to him.

Zeus smiled and said, "This will be Jack's first outing."

"Not just for him. It's the first outing ever for all of us, too," Juno said.

Zeus smiled and returned his attention to the table. He saw that the troops were already prepared to exit the city.

"Ah, Hero Adileh was commanded to go out with them," he said. "No wonder they were ready to leave so quickly."

The command center showed the destination.

"A farm," Zeus said with a nod. "A good first outing."

All the managers crowded around the table to watch the troops leave. They arrived on the farm within a few Player seconds, because it was right next to their city.

"Look, they're gathering food!" Another manager said with a laugh.

"Ah, so this is one of the resource tiles that the How to Play Room in the More Tunnels was describing," Zeus said.

Suddenly, a flare of light from the city went out to the troops, and the command for them to return popped up into view on the table. The troops stopped gathering, and they started returning home.

"What? Already?" Zeus said. "But it's been barely a few Player seconds!"

"I think this was another experiment," Juno said and sighed. "Well, at least our Player's trying to learn, right?"

Zeus groaned and said, "I hope he doesn't send the troops out then back, then out and back again like he did in the Items Room. I don't know how much more I can take of this."

The Rooms jewel on all the managers' medallions lit up, and the command table popped up a screen announcing the Player's presence in the Items Room again.

All the managers hung their heads and groaned in unison.

This was definitely turning out to be a very long day.


	8. Chapter 8: Alliance

**Chapter 8: Alliance**

My sister and I were in my room. She was sitting at my desk, and I was sitting on my bed. We were both looking down at our phones.

I asked my sister, "Has anyone from your alliance left?"

"Not yet," she said. "But before I closed my alliance, people were leaving and joining all the time. Worse comes to worse, I can kick people out and invite you."

I sighed and said, "Well, maybe I'll just join some other alliance for now. I mean, I can always leave, right?"

My sister's eyes lit up, and she said, "Yeah, you should do that! And tell me how your alliance runs things. I don't really know what I'm doing, yet."

"Ok," I said. "I get free gold out of this, too, right?"

My sister nodded and said, "You get one hundred gold."

"What's the gold good for?"

My sister said, "You can get items from the store, but I'm hoarding mine. Gold's really hard to get. You know how in your mystery game, you can watch a video or something to get diamonds once a day?"

I nodded.

"Well, you can't do that here," she said. "Other than getting gold for joining an alliance or from the bouncy chest…what's it called? Anyways, you can't get gold anywhere else."

"Ok, I'm gonna do it," I said.

"I wanna watch!" she said and sat next to me on my bed.

I smiled and turned my screen a bit towards her so she could see what I was doing.

* * *

The city was in a celebratory uproar, because the Player was looking at a list of alliances to join. Everyone was out on the streets cheering the dim Player Orb.

Kate and the others weren't down there. They were sitting at their usual spot at the top of the falls looking down at the city. They had discovered that the Player Orb always beamed down on the city but never lit up anything above it.

"I can't believe it," Kate said with a smile.

"You called it," Jack said. "You said that he would join an alliance. Now all we need is for him to change his name and our city name to something more than just a string of numbers."

Next to Kate and Jack, Erick, Lobby, Toffer, and Manda were also sitting on the edge looking down at the city.

"When did she say this?" Toffer said.

"It was when we first reached Stronghold level five," Jack said with a grin.

"Before the abandonment?" Erick said. "Wow, remind me to always listen to your predictions, Kate."

Kate shrugged and said, "I think we got lucky."

"But I wonder why the Player left us in the first place?" Manda said softly.

"It wasn't something we did, was it?" Lobby said.

"Who knows," Jack said and leaned back with a sigh.

Toffer said, "Well, Players _are_ unfathomable creatures. What I would do to know what goes through their minds."

Suddenly, Athena's voice echoing through the city interrupted them.

"We got free gold!" Lobby said happily.

"But what is gold supposed to do?" Manda said.

Everyone shrugged.

"Well, we started out with one hundred of it," Kate said. "And now we have two hundred. That's double, so it has to be a good thing."

Everyone nodded.

"Here you all are!" 88M's voice said behind them. "Zeus and Hero Adileh want all the high absorption rate citizens to come to the Stronghold."

"Hi, 88," Kate said. "Why do they want us?"

88M moved up and down on the balls of his feet with excitement.

"When the Player joined an alliance, the Alliance Room unlocked! We can enter it now, and there's a whole new quests room and some sort of event room!"

"Really?" Kate said and got up. "I definitely have to see that!"

88M smiled then stopped.

"Wait, we're all going down the path, right? It's not really urgent, so we have time…"

"Where's the fun in that?" Erick said with a laugh.

Manda said, "You don't have to jump with us if you don't want to, 88."

Toffer said, "Dear 88, you jumped so admirably the last time."

88M shook his head and said, "But that was an emergency! And it took forever to find the surface!"

Erick laughed again and said, "No worries, 88. We'll just wait for you at the bottom."

Kate glanced down at the Player Orb. It was dim. Erick also looked at it before saluting them and leaping off the edge.

"See you down there all," Toffer said with a similar salute and jumped, too.

"I can walk down with you, 88," Manda said softly.

Lobby said, "I can, too."

"Same here," Kate said with a smile.

88 frowned, and after several moments, he closed his eyes and sighed.

"It's ok…I'll jump, too," he said. "I'm not scared necessarily…it just…it isn't my favorite activity. And I always get nervous that the Player Orb will light up while I'm in mid jump."

"Don't worry, buddy," Jack said. "We can walk down with you."

88 tightened his lips and said, "Nope. Here I go!"

He ran past them to the edge.

"88," Kate called, but he was already jumping off.

"Eeeyaaahhhhh!"

"I _think_ that sounded like a fun shout?" Lobby said.

Jack chuckled and said, "More like a scream than a shout."

"We'll walk down with him next time," Manda said.

Kate nodded.

Then all together, the four of them jumped off, too. When everyone reached the back entrance of the Stronghold, they dried themselves off as best as they could then went inside.

Kate couldn't wait to see the newly unlocked rooms.


	9. Chapter 9: Lone Survivor

**Chapter 9: Lone Survivor**

Jack scowled at Hero Adileh and Zeus. He knew he shouldn't, but in the current circumstances, he couldn't help it.

"You're the second strongest next to Kate," Zeus was saying. "We can't afford to lose you again."

"But we have a Player again," Jack said. "In fact, he's on all the time. There are so many other citizens with high absorption rates – "

"This isn't just about high absorption rates, Jack," Hero Adileh said. "You and the others are more than that. The Player's light hides what all of you are, but now that we know, we can't take chances. I have a hunch that no other city has citizens like you, Kate, and the others."

"I _like_ being a soldier!" Jack said.

"All the managers and I are in agreement," Hero Adileh said in a no-nonsense tone. "You're to hand over your soldier's gear. It'll go to the top student at the barracks waiting to receive his uniform. Then you're to clear out your bed in the barracks and move back to the villa."

Jack opened his mouth to protest.

"Hero's orders!" Adileh said, her tone turning to steel.

Jack scowled again, but he sharply saluted her. Then without another word to them, he left. He clenched and unclenched his fist.

It wasn't fair. All because he had been hit in the chest and legs by that light.

* * *

Everyone was on the city walls or inside the Stronghold crowded around the central table. Normally, Kate would go to the Stronghold, but today, she and the others were at the city wall. Ever since Jack's move back to the villa earlier in the morning, he had refused to enter the Stronghold or speak with any of the managers. And no one dared mention Hero Adileh's name around him.

All the citizens squinted and passed around eyeglasses, courtesy of the forge and watchtower. Something strange had appeared close to their city.

"Whatever in the world could that be?" Toffer said, squinting into his eyeglass.

Kate looked into hers and frowned.

It looked like a large cave with horns.

"I think it's the giant skull of some kind of animal," Manda said.

Suddenly, light flared from the Player Orb out to the strange cave.

"Ooh, I wish we could see the details of what the Player's seeing," Lobby said. "It would be nice to have a command table here."

Immediately, Kate glanced to her left at Jack. He wasn't looking at them, and his frowning gaze was distant. He didn't look like he was thinking about the cave at all, but Kate saw his mouth tighten just the tiniest bit.

Kate quickly elbowed Erick, who was standing to her right. She moved her eyes over past Erick, and Erick nodded in understanding and elbowed Manda, who elbowed Toffer, who elbowed Lobby.

The four of them moved their eyes over at Jack and looked back at Lobby.

She mouthed, "Oh. Oh, sorry."

The Player Orb flared again, and troops lined up in front of the gate.

"Oh, look!" a citizen to Jack's left said. "The Player's sending out troops to the cave!"

"Oooh! And Hero Adileh's going with them!"

Kate and the others softly groaned.

Kate heard Erick mutter under his breath, "Loud citizens."

She glanced at Jack again. He was still frowning, and he let out a frustrated sigh. When the troops marched out the city gates, Jack pushed off the wall.

"You're going?" Kate said.

"Yeah," Jack said quietly. "Sorry, Kate. Sorry, you guys. I'll be at the falls if you need me."

They watched him go.

"I still cannot understand why anyone would ever want to be a soldier," Toffer said, "but we'll have to do something special to cheer him up."

Everyone nodded in agreement and turned back to the wall. They watched the soldiers march with Hero Adileh towards the cave.

"It's a lot farther away than the farm," Manda said. "I wonder how long it'll take them to get there."

Lobby said, "About…two Player minutes."

Kate and the others turned to her with raised brows.

"How do you know that?" Erick said.

Lobby glanced at them, and her cheeks turned rosy.

"Oh, well…when the army marched out the last time to the farm, I calculated the time it took them to walk ten steps and checked the measurement of a Player second to those tens steps…you know…I just figured it out."

"Wow," Kate said. "And you did this all in your head?"

Lobby nodded.

Toffer said, "So, what you're saying, darling, is that you can tell how far away a tile will be in Player seconds or minutes just by looking?"

Lobby nodded again.

Erick let out a low whistle and said, "Not bad, not bad."

"I'm impressed," Kate said with a smile.

"That's wonderful, Lobby," Manda said.

Lobby smiled, but her cheeks became even rosier.

Suddenly, a red light flashed through the city. The citizens on the wall looked all around in panic.

"For Player's sake," Toffer said. "A scout or an attack at a time like this?"

"I don't think we're being scouted," Manda said. "Those are fast, and I don't see one."

Citizen runners from the watchtower reached the city wall and ran past all the citizens shouting at the top of their lungs.

"Collision course! Collision course!"

Everyone turned back to the wall and looked out to their marching soldiers. Kate squinted through her eyeglass and now saw that another army was also marching towards the cave from a different direction.

"Are they bigger than us?" Erick said. "What does it mean that we're on a collision course?"

"It means we're going to meet with them and not in a friendly manner," Toffer said. "That's what 'collision' usually implies."

Erick snorted and said, "That's not what I was asking and you know it."

Toffer smirked.

"Uh…I don't know if this is important or not," Lobby said, "but the enemy will reach the cave in ten Player seconds. Our troops will arrive in forty Player seconds."

"Oh no," Manda said. "This is not good, is it?"

"So, what really happens when our troops meet the enemy at the cave?" Erick said.

"I think it'll turn into a battle," Kate said with a frown. "Our world is a world of war. When enemy troops meet, that's the only thing that _can_ happen."

"What do we do?" Erick said. "Is there anything we can do?"

"I don't think so," Kate said.

Suddenly, behind them, above the city, light flared out from the Player Orb. The actual orb was still dim, which meant that the Player was still looking outside the city. But instead of the usual straightforward command flare, several flares of light roiled out then flipped back into the orb in a chaotic twirl.

Everyone turned back to the orb to look at it.

Erick frowned and said in a worried tone, "Have you ever seen the Player's light do that?"

Kate shook her head. This was something none of them had ever seen before. That dancing light was different from the usual shining light that soaked into her. This time, the light put a tight knot in her chest instead of lifting her spirits.

Some of that light flared out and touched their marching soldiers again and again.

"I think…I think he's panicking," Kate said.

"He doesn't know how to bring our soldiers back," Manda said with wide eyes. " _Can_ they be brought back?"

"I don't know," Kate said. "Once we've received a command, it's never been…what's the word…retracted, taken back?"

"Recalled," Lobby said. "I remember seeing something called a March Recall in the new Alliance Catalog Room. But I don't think we have that item."

"Can't we buy it in the Alliance Store?" Kate said.

"Yeah, we could try to get our Player's attention to get it!" Erick said.

"We don't have the points, darling," Toffer said to Kate. "Remember when we went through those rooms? If I remember correctly, that item costs five thousand Alliance points. We're not there yet. And that item was in the Alliance Catalog Room, not the actual Alliance Store."

"And even if we could buy it or had it in our inventory," Lobby said, "there's no time. Two Player seconds left until arrival."

Everyone turned back to their marching soldiers.

"You think we'll win?" Erick said.

"We can only hope," Manda said softly.

The soldiers arrived at the cave.

Kate couldn't quite tell what was going on. There was a lot of movement and action, but it didn't last long. It was over, and the results were clearly evident.

"Oh no…" Manda said.

Kate only swallowed and put her hand to her mouth. Next to her, wails went up from the citizens at the wall.

Hero Adileh was returning to the city…alone.


	10. Chapter 10: First Words

**Chapter 10: First Words**

Kate eagerly walked into the Stronghold and headed towards the Mail Room. Just as she entered the central chamber, she paused. Jack was there arguing with Hero Adileh and Zeus again.

"Let me join the new trainees!"

"Jack," Hero Adileh said. "This is not up for discussion."

"If you hadn't forced me out before the cave expedition – "

"Then you would be erased now," Zeus said sharply. "You're special, Jack. No doubt about it, but that doesn't change the rules the creators put in place. We were outnumbered, and your presence in the army wouldn't have changed anything, except that we would be mourning your permanent loss."

Kate couldn't bear to watch this.

She stepped forward and said, "Jack, can you come with me to the Mail Room? The others were too busy to come along."

Jack's brow was furrowed, and Kate could tell he was going to refuse her.

"Please?" she said.

Jack's tensed body relaxed a little, and he sighed. He nodded and let her pull him away. Behind him, both Hero Adileh and Zeus mouthed a "thank you" to Kate.

Kate opened the door to the Mail Room and pulled him inside.

The Mail Room was a little different than the other rooms in that there were no shelves. It was large and square with a row of several stone pillars going down the left and right of the room. The far end wall was blank and covered with a thick layer of crystal. Like all of the other Player accessible rooms, a large white Player Orb floated above their heads in the center of the room.

A few citizens and a manager were at the front discussing the different mail and reports that had come through for the Player, so Kate pulled Jack to the side towards one of the pillars. The Mail Room always had a low hum running through it, so their voices wouldn't echo here.

"I thought we were here to see mail," Jack said when they reached the pillar.

"Jack," Kate said and paused.

She wanted to word this right.

"Do you want to be a soldier that badly?"

"Yes," he said without hesitation.

"Why?"

"Who wouldn't?" he said. "You become stronger and faster than the average citizen, and you get to go out to places. If we ever become strong enough to attack other Strongholds, as a soldier, I would get to see those cities, too. You just get to do so much more."

Kate said, "But what if you're erased?"

Jack straightened his shoulders and a determined glint entered his eye.

"That's a risk I'm willing to take."

"Even if it means leaving me alone?" Kate said softly.

"Kate…"

Kate didn't like the quiet expression he was giving her, so she turned away from him. She didn't resist when she felt his arms go around her, but she didn't lean into him either.

"I wouldn't allow myself to be erased," he said in her ear. "Because I know you would be waiting for me. Don't you ever think my desire to be a soldier lessens my heart for you. Never."

Kate sighed and turned around in his arms.

She put her own arms around him and said, "I'm certain that one day you'll become a soldier again, but for now, since you're not allowed, can't you just accept it? Enjoy your time with me while you can. As a soldier, you didn't always have this much time to spare."

"I…" Jack breathed deeply and sighed. "For you, anything."

His arms around her tightened, and they held each other for a few moments. When they released each other, Kate smiled up at him.

She said, "So, do you want to know why I was coming here to the Mail Room?"

Jack said, "I'm sure it has something to do with our Player. Something good, I hope?"

Kate nodded and said, "The Player who destroyed our troops at the cave sent our Player a mail."

Jack grimaced, and Kate immediately put her hand up to his cheek.

"Oh, Jack. I'm sorry."

"No, I'm the one who should be apologizing," Jack said. "I just…I still feel like I should have been there."

"There was nothing you could have done," Kate said. "Zeus wasn't wrong. You would be gone now if they hadn't pulled you from the troops."

"But the student who took my place…"

"Stop," Kate said softly. "It's finished, and the best thing you can do is make sure his unknowing sacrifice wasn't for nothing. And you won't. We'll help our city prosper."

Jack took a deep breath and said, "Keep going…what about this enemy Player who mailed our Player?"

"Our Player wrote a response," Kate said. "It's the first time we've seen him say anything at all. The Mail Room manager sent someone to tell me."

Jack snorted and said, "I'm not surprised. The entire city knows about your obsession with our Player. I don't have to be jealous, do I?"

Kate playfully punched his shoulder and said, "Well, that's why we're here. I wanted to read his reply for myself."

She then reached up and kissed him on the cheek.

"And no jealousy needed."

Jack smiled.

Kate took his hand, and they left the pillars to go to the citizens and managers still discussing the mail that had come through. The crystal layered wall wasn't blank anymore, and a large view of one of the mails that the enemy Player had sent filled the wall.

Just in front of the crystal wall, there were five crystal podiums. The main podium in the center was the mail control panel. Then the two podiums to the left were the Inbox Podium and the Reports Podium. The two podiums to the right were the Saved Podium and the Notices Podium.

The Inbox Podium was currently lit up.

"Ah, Kate!" the Mail Room manager named Hermes said. "We were wondering where you were. You missed the replies our Player sent, but I had one of the citizens memorize it for you."

Kate looked up and frowned at the enemy Player's writing. It was incomprehensible.

"What kind of words are those?" Kate said. "I don't understand any of it."

"I believe the Players speak a variety of languages," Hermes said. "We're oriented to whatever language our Player speaks. Our Player didn't know its meaning either. 8978F? If you would, please?"

One of the citizens next to the podium stepped forward.

8978F said, "I'm sorry. I don't understand what you're saying."

"That was the first reply our Player sent," Hermes said. "And the second one sent a few Player's seconds later?"

8978F said, "I don't understand what you wrote. Sorry."

Kate blinked.

"Isn't that the same message?" Jack said.

Hermes chuckled and said, "Sent messages don't get saved, so I think our Player wasn't certain if the first one had gone through, even though it did."

The other citizens standing next to the podiums were also chuckling.

Kate smiled and said, "How adorable!"

Jack let out a low cough next to her.

Suddenly, the main podium in the center flashed a bright orange, and the Inbox Podium lit up blue.

"Ah, more mail!" Hermes said. "Could you take us to the main Inbox screen, 8978F?"

8978F moved to the main podium and put her hand on it. The screen switched from the enemy Player's mail to the main screen with the four tabs of different types of mail. The tab with the inbox label had a small red square with a white number one at the top right. All of the mail listed underneath that tab were gray, except for the topmost one, which was white.

"Aren't we going to read it?"

Hermes shook his head and said, "It's locked. We can't read it until our Player opens it."

The Player Orb hanging from the ceiling lit up and a flare of light touched the crystal wall. The topmost line of mail turned gray.

"Excellent!" Hermes said. "Let's see what the enemy Player wrote."

8978F moved to the Inbox Podium and put her hand on its flat crystal surface. The screen changed to the enemy Player's message.

8978F read out loud, "I was asking if you wanted to join my alliance. I'm the leader."

"An unofficial alliance invitation?" Hermes said. "Excellent! Wonderful! Our fame spreads!"

Suddenly, tendrils of light flared out at the screen from the Player Orb, and a blank page came up. More light flared at the screen, and with each flaring touch, words typed itself onto the screen.

Kate watched the Player's light create the words onto the blank screen with wide eyes.

These were her Player's words. He was actually speaking.

Amazing.

8978F read out loud, "Sorry, but I'm already in an alliance. Thanks for the offer, though."

Hermes nodded solemnly and said, "How admirable. Our Player is a loyal one."

Jack crossed his arms and said, "And why should he join this Player's alliance? He's the one who just destroyed all of our troops!"

"Has our Player said anything in the Chat Room, yet?" Kate said.

Hermes shook his head and said proudly, "His first words were from here in the Mail Room, but you can go see what some of the other Players in the alliance or kingdom have to say."

Kate shook her head. She had no interest in the words of any other Players except for her own.

"You know, I didn't realize how talkative Players could be until we joined the alliance and the alliance chat opened up. I think it was Nemesis in the Chat Room who realized that the chatter in the kingdom chat and alliance chat were all Players talking to one another."

"Well, ours is a little on the quiet side," Jack said.

"There's nothing wrong with that," Kate said. "I think it's more regal."

"You would," Jack muttered.

Kate raised a brow at him and said, "What did you say, Jack?"

Jack put his hands up and said, "Nothing, dearest darling Kate. Nothing at all."

Kate tried to frown but ended up smiling instead.

"Now you sound like Toffer," she said.

"Well, I always noticed that when Toffer talks to you, you get into a better mood. Should I be jealous?"

Kate laughed and said, "No jealousy needed."

Suddenly, the door to the Mail Room opened and a citizen popped his head in.

"We have an Epic Quest in the Alliance Quest Chamber! It's PURPLE! You should see the list of resources and Alliance points we'll get if we complete it! It's so much more than the basic quests! Spread the word!"

Hermes immediately shooed Kate and Jack away. He even told his helpers to go.

"This is a special event," he said. "Go see it! I can handle things here."

Kate thanked Hermes and the other citizens for letting her know about the messages. The citizens also thanked Hermes and rushed out of the room. Kate and Jack left, too, and headed straight for the Quests Room.


	11. Chapter 11: Rowan and Rome

**Chapter 11: Rowan and Rome**

Kate was sitting at the falls with Lobby and Manda. They had a large picnic blanket laid out and several different treats to snack on, courtesy of the villa. Jack and Toffer were getting ready to jump the falls, and Erick had already just jumped off.

To Kate's surprise, 88M came rushing up the path.

"88?" Kate said. "What's wrong?"

"He left!" 88M said with hard breaths. "Whew! There's gotta be an easier way up here…"

Kate heart automatically thundered in her chest.

He…left?

Kate's breath hitched, and she put her hand to her breast. Her breathing was coming out in short, rapid bursts. Jack was immediately at her side rubbing her back in smooth, circular motions. Manda was also at her side taking her hand.

"Shh," Manda said. "It's all right. Everything's fine."

Lobby took her other hand and rubbed it.

"Breathe," Jack said gently. "The Player Orb is dim not dark. He hasn't left us."

Kate looked out and saw that Jack was right. The orb was that softer, gray color when the Player wasn't looking at the city but was still present. There was also a splash of light on one side of the orb directed at the Stronghold, which meant that the Player's attention was probably inside one of the Stronghold rooms. It wasn't the dark, cold gray color when the Player's presence completely left the orb.

Kate saw Toffer glance at her then exchange looks with Jack. When they both glanced back at her, Kate took in a deep breath and nodded.

She was fine now.

Toffer then turned to 88M and said, "Dear 88, you've jumped ahead of yourself. Slow down and start again. Who left?"

"Our Player left the alliance he was in," 88M said.

Kate let out a deep sigh, and the knot in her chest released. Then she blinked.

"What?" she said. "He left? Are you sure?"

88M nodded and said, "The Alliance Rooms are locked again."

Behind 88M, Erick came up on the path.

"What?" Erick said. "The Alliance Rooms are locked?"

88M nodded.

Manda said, "Oh no. I thought our Player would make some friends among the other Players. But now he's alone again."

"That's assuming that Players are creatures like us and need companionship, darling," Toffer said.

"Forget about loneliness!" Erick said. "What about all those extra resources we could get from completing Alliance Quests! The buildings cost more to build than they used to when we were level one. And the researches, too."

"Are extra resources all you can think about?" Toffer said with a raised brow.

"Well, and access to the Alliance Store!" Erick said. "We still haven't bought anything from there."

"Actually," 88M said. "Our Player used up the hundred thousand points he received from the Epic Quest we finished the other day. He did it just before leaving the alliance. He bought a three-hour speed up."

"What!" Kate said. "We missed it?"

"I wanted to see the first purchase," Lobby said with a disappointed sigh.

"Oh, and he renamed himself and the city," 88M said.

"WHAT?!" everyone said in unision.

"88!" Kate said and scrambled to her feet. "You should have mentioned that first!"

"Oh…we missed that, too?" Manda said and sighed.

Suddenly, behind 88M, a female citizen came running up the path completely out of breath.

"88F!" 88M said. "More news?"

88F nodded, and breathed in and out several times to catch her breath first.

Finally, she said, "Player Rowan received an official alliance invitation. He accepted it, and now we're in another alliance."

88M grinned and said, "What a relief!"

"Rowan…" Kate said softly.

"Are there no numbers?" Lobby said. "In our Player's new name, I mean. I noticed that a lot of other Players have numbers or lines within their names since Players can't have the same name as each other."

88F shook her head and said, "No numbers. Our Player chose a name that hadn't been claimed yet."

"88," Kate said.

Both 88M and 88F turned their heads.

"Yes?" They said at the same time.

"You two really need to pick new names already," Jack muttered under his breath.

Kate chuckled at Jack, then turned to 88M and 88F.

She said, "What did Our Player…I mean, Rowan, name our city?"

"Rome," 88M said.

"Roam?" Erick said. "What kind of a name is that? It's like saying we're a city that likes to wander around."

"No," 88M said. "It's R-O-M-E. Rome."

"Sounds exactly the same to me," Erick said.

Jack chuckled and said, "Maybe it has some kind of significance to the Player."

Kate asked, "Is there anything else important we should know about?"

88m shook his head, but 88F looked thoughtful.

She said, "The managers have started calling our Player, 'Sir Rowan.' Oh, and he spoke for the first time in his new alliance chat. So we all believe he may be more invested in staying in this particular alliance."

Kate blew out a breath and said, "We missed that, too?"

"We missed everything today!" Erick said. "Nothing happened yesterday. Nothing! And now the one day we all decide to do a quick outing to the falls, all this happens at once!"

"Such is life," Toffer said softly. "Shall we go down to the Stronghold?"

Everyone nodded.

88M said, "Ok, I'm ready."

Kate tilted her head to the side. What was 88 ready for?

Then 88M started to run, and Kate widened her eyes in alarm.

"Wait!" she said.

Fortunately, both Jack and Toffer leaped forward and stopped 88's momentum.

"Whoa! Stop there for a second, 88," Jack said.

"I can do this!" 88M said with determination and struggled in their grasp.

Kate hid a smile when she saw 88M's eyes quickly glance over at Manda before turning back to Jack and Toffer.

"We're not saying you're not capable," Jack said. "You've already shown us that you are."

"Look over at the orb, dear 88," Toffer said.

88M looked, and he finally stopped struggling. Kate shook her head and sighed.

The Player Orb was brightly lit up and shining down on the city. It had lit up not long after 88F had arrived. 88M must not have noticed it.

"The top of the falls might not be visible, but the lower half is," Toffer said. "We wouldn't want the Player to see any of his citizens falling down the falls, now would we?"

88M glanced over at Manda again, and then he hung his head in defeat. Kate saw Lobby look at 88M and Manda, too. Manda was now quietly packing up all the picnic items they had brought.

Kate exchanged glances with Lobby and raised her brows at her. Lobby raised her brows, too, then after a quick glance at Manda, she gave Kate a shrug.

"Come on!" Erick said. "Let's get down there fast! I want to see what kind of items this new alliance has in their Alliance Store! The last leader was always skimpy on stocking items."

Toffer sighed and said, "Really, is that all you can think about?"

Everyone got up and each took some of the picnic items. Then they went down the path together.


	12. Chapter 12: Scout

**Chapter 12: Scout**

Jack burst into the barracks and ran into the changing room. Sure enough, one of the citizens was there with Ares, the barracks master, who was in the middle of handing over a black and white scout's uniform.

"Let me go instead," Jack said.

"Wow!" the citizen said. "You're THE Jack from the second batch! One of the Chosen Ones!"

Ares said, "I'm sorry, Jack. We have Hero orders not to let you – "

"Not to let me join the troops, I know," Jack said. "This is different. This is a scout. Scouts have the creators' protection! Nothing will happen to me! I can do this…let me do this."

"Sure! Of course! Here!" the citizen said and lifted up the scout's uniform.

"But Hero Adileh and the managers…" Ares said.

Jack stepped forward and took the scout's uniform from the citizen.

"Tell them it was my fault," Jack said. "There's no time right now. Player's orders have already gone out."

Jack stripped his citizen clothes off and changed into the scout's uniform. It wasn't heavily armored like his swordsmen uniform had been, but it was similar enough that he let out a satisfactory sigh when he was finished putting it on.

That was better.

Ares sighed and shook his head, but he said, "Here, take this."

Ares handed Jack a small medallion with a single white jewel in the center.

"This will guide you to the city Sir Rowan wants you to scout. Once you finish, relay your report to the jewel so that we can send your information to the mail room right away. Now, you better get going. Scout horse is already waiting at the gate."

Jack grinned and put the medallion around his neck.

He said, "Thanks, Ares. I won't forget this."

Jack turned to the citizen, too, and said, "You, too. Thanks. What was your name?"

"My name is Sonny," the citizen said and crisply saluted him.

Jack smiled and said, "Thanks, Sonny."

Then he rushed out of the barracks to go to the gate. When he arrived, a citizen holding the scout horse handed Jack the reins. The citizen also handed him a small sheet of parchment with a list of information that he was supposed to gather once he reached the enemy city.

Jack took it and felt something tight inside him loosen.

Finally…he was going out again. And this time, he would get to see more than just a farm. With great relish, he galloped out of the city.

* * *

The scout horse was fast…faster than marching, faster even than the outrider soldiers Jack used to train with in the barracks, which was saying something. Outriders and their horses were the fastest soldiers in the entire army.

Jack loved it.

The wind blew against his face, and the strong light of Sir Rowan's attention warmed his back. The jewel on his medallion glowed with the same Player's light until he reached his destination.

Empire 137392419.

The city's gates were open, so Jack galloped into the city without stopping. Suddenly, as soon as he was in the city limits, he had just a moment to notice the alarmed shouts of some enemy city's citizens gathering food on their farm. Then the entire city stopped moving.

Jack looked around at the frozen faces of the people around him.

"Huh…so that's why those enemy scouts to our city moved around in a blur as soon as they reached our city."

Jack took out the sheet of parchment the citizen had given him and read the list of information he was supposed to gather. He first made his way to the city's storehouse and spoke into his medallion the amount of resources he counted.

"Wood: 19,900. Silver: 20,000. Food: 23,000," Jack said.

When he finished there, he went to the barracks to count the number of troops. When he got there, he frowned.

The barracks was empty.

There was a barracks master, but he was sitting inside the main training room stacking sheets of…was that jewelry material from the forge? The thin golden sheets that were folded in and out? The barracks master was stacking them into a fragile tower.

He was frozen in the midst of putting a jewelry sheet on the topmost section of the stack, which was already a couple feet tall. His expression was one of concentration, and he had his tongue sticking out of the side of his mouth.

Jack raised his brows.

How bored do you have to be to make a tower of jewelry material in an empty barracks?

Jack was grateful Ares was the barracks master back at home. Even during the abandonment, Ares had had the students continue their training.

Jack brought his medallion up to his mouth and said, "No troops."

He went into the city Stronghold but didn't see the hero. With a shrug, he headed to the Hero Profile Room, but when he tried to enter, the door wouldn't budge. A faint red glow pushed his hands away.

After a few failed attempts to enter, he gave up and went back out into the city. He eventually did find the city's Hero, who was in one of the villas slouched at one of the tables with a depressed expression.

Jack tried to speak a description of the Hero into his medallion, but a red glow surrounded his medallion and the lit up white jewel turned dark.

Jack frowned and looked back at his sheet of parchment.

Resources, Defending Traps, Defending Troops, Reinforcements.

Was that really the only information he could relay back home?

With a sigh, he then rode around the city to look for any reinforcing troops but didn't see a single citizen with a soldier's uniform. Finally, he returned to the city's wall.

He said into his medallion, "No reinforcing troops, no traps."

After one last look, he left the city and rode back home. Jack relished every moment of the wind whipping past him. When his city came into view, he stared in wonder at the Player's light. It was shining directly into his eyes. The Player was watching him.

The light soaked into him, and he breathed deeply.

Whatever arguments Hero Adileh and Zeus had for him at home, he was determined to stand his ground. If he couldn't be a soldier, then this was what he would be.

A scout.

And this time, it was a job he was going to keep.


	13. Chapter 13: Victory's Loss

**Chapter 13: Victory's Loss**

Kate was at the wall with Jack, watching the army assemble at the gate with Hero Adileh. Kate kept a wary eye on Jack, who was watching the soldiers intently. Finally, she heard him sigh, and he gave her a pointed look.

"Kate," he said. "I'm all right. So stop it already."

Kate sighed, but it wasn't one of relief.

Jack said, "I told you, I'm fine. I'm ok being a scout."

"I know, I know," she said. "We've all heard you rave about your scouting experiences, but…that's not where you heart really is, is it."

Jack turned his whole body towards her and leaned back into the wall. He smiled that charming half grin he used whenever he was trying to lighten the mood.

"You're absolutely correct Miss Kate. My heart happens to _truly_ belong right _there_."

He pointed at Kate's heart.

Kate crossed her arms and rolled her eyes.

"No eye rolling here," Jack said. "I'm being vulnerable confessing to you. You going to trample on the tender feelings of a citizen in love?"

Kate snorted and shook her head.

"Don't you believe me?" Jack said with raised brows.

"You're not answering my question," Kate said with a raised brow of her own.

"Neither are you," he said.

Suddenly, they heard Hero Adileh give the signal, and the army marched out. Both Kate and Jack turned their attention back to the army and watched them go.

Kate asked, "You think they'll win?"

"One hundred percent chance of victory," Jack said.

"But this city isn't like the first one you scouted," Kate said. "That one I knew would be a definite victory. This one has defending troops and traps."

"Eight siege troops, Kate," Jack said.

"And three-thousand three hundred traps," Kate said. "Your report didn't include what level those traps were."

"With the enemy's current Stronghold level, there's only one level it could be," Jack said.

Kate raised a brow.

"Tier one," Jack said. "Even though I couldn't put it in the report, I promise I saw them. They're tier ones just like our troops."

At that moment, Kate saw Erick and Lobby come towards them.

"Did we miss anything?" Erick said.

Kate shook her head and said, "No, the troops just left. And the enemy city is far off, so we have time before the report comes in. Where's Toffer and Manda? And is 88 coming at all?"

Erick chuckled and said, "Manda's on her shift at the villa, and Toffer has street walking duty right now."

"And 88's taking a break at the villa," Lobby said with a smile.

Kate laughed and said, "Of course he is."

Suddenly, the Player Orb lit up.

"Run!" Kate shouted to her friends and to all the other citizens standing along the wall.

Everyone scrambled to their right to get to the long section of wall that was out of the Player Orb's line of sight. Just as the last citizen reached the shadowed section of the wall, the Player Orb fully lit up, and a strong stream of more concentrated light beamed down on the buildings in the city. Then the light moved out past the city walls to one of the farms and became even more concentrated until only a few farms were within the radius of the bright stream of light.

"Whew," Jack said. "That was a close one. Good thing the Player's light never reaches this section of wall away from the outer plots of land."

Kate saw Lobby pull out an eye glass out towards the land.

"Lobby," Kate said. "How long until our troops reach the enemy city?"

"A few more Player Minutes," she said.

"That's forever," Erick said.

"Well, as long as Sir Rowan looks down at our city," Jack said, "the normal report runners can't run through the city either, so maybe it's a good thing it'll take some time for our troops to arrive. By the time they reach the enemy city, Sir Rowan will probably be looking out again."

"Let's go to the Stronghold," Kate said. "We'll get faster updated reports from there."

"Right now?" Erick said. "Sir Rowan is still looking down at us."

"We can take the long way around," Kate said and pointed.

This section of the wall that was out of the Player's sight wrapped around their city, but in between the out of sight wall and the first buildings, there was nothing but hilly, rocky grass that climbed up and up until it reached the top of the falls.

"That'll take forever!" Erick said.

"Not forever necessarily," Lobby said. "But that's not an easy climb."

Kate said, "I'll ask Zeus next time if we can do another path building project from this side of the wall up to the falls."

Kate led Erick, Jack, and Lobby up the rocky climb. None of the other citizens followed.

"This isn't too bad," Kate said when they were almost up to the falls. "It's much easier than when Jack and I had to climb the cliffs on the other side."

Erick said, "I guess it's a good workout, but too much of the rock rolls around and crumbles."

"We'll get that request in for the path," Kate said.

When they finally reached the falls, the Player Orb had dimmed and was focused on the Stronghold.

"Looks like the report for our attack has gone through," Kate said. "Let's go."

All of them jumped off the falls and into the pool. Kate swam up to the surface towards the shallow steps of the Stronghold back entrance. She paused and smiled when she saw a small stone shelf next to the steps. There were neatly folded towels on those shelves.

"Heh, he actually listened," Erick.

Kate raised a brow at him, and he caught it.

"Toffer said he would talk to Zeus about having Heph at the forge build a stone shelf here to hold towels and dry clothes for people who jump the falls. I didn't think Zeus would actually send in the request, and I definitely didn't think Heph would make it. You know how grumpy he gets about requests for any items that don't officially show up in the Player's inventory."

Lobby said, "Yes, he does get grumpy, but he always fulfills those requests."

Erick chuckled and said, "Yeah, but it's probably more because of Essa than because of us. If it weren't for her, I doubt he would listen to any of our requests."

"Don't make assumptions," Lobby said. "Essa being one of us has nothing to do with Heph fulfilling requests."

Erick snorted and said, "Have you seen the way he looks at her?"

"Ok, ok, you two," Jack said, "We need to get inside. Let's hurry up and dry off. I got an earful the last time I entered the Stronghold dripping water."

Erick said, "Yeah, Juno lectured me for an entire Player minute when I did that the last time."

"Really?" Kate said. "I've never been scolded about that."

"That's because you never run in there soaking wet, Kate," Lobby said. "These two do it all the time, and citizens working in the Stronghold slip and fall because of it."

"I've gone in the Stronghold dripping wet before," Kate said.

"During emergencies," Lobby said.

"And I think your Zeus' favorite," Erick said. "When he sees you he doesn't sigh that 'what now?' sigh he gives me."

Lobby chuckled and shook her head.

She said, "He does have a reason, Erick. You _are_ the one who almost torched one of the buildings without Sir Rowan's command."

"We don't even know if that torch would have worked," Erick said.

"When was this?" Kate said with a raised brow.

Jack rubbed his hair with a towel and smirked.

"I'd like to know about this, too," he said.

"When Sir Rowan first returned, you know how he kept looking through items?" Lobby said.

Kate and Jack nodded.

"Well, there's an item called a torch that we don't actually have in the inventory, but Sir Rowan was looking at the possibility of instantly buying one with gold," Lobby said. "I don't think he actually wanted to torch anything. He was just figuring out what it was about. When he touched one of the buildings, you know that glow that surrounds it when he's looking inside it to either send out the upgrade command or the deconstruct command? Well, he was hovering over the option to torch it, and a torch appeared in midair."

Erick interrupted, "None of us really knew what any of the items were for back then. I didn't know that the torch that suddenly appeared next to the building was capable of destroying it in an instant."

Lobby smiled and said, "Well, Sir Rowan must have been reading the description, because that torch just hovered in the air. So, Erick took it and looked at it. Then he shrugged and threw it at the building."

"I didn't throw it _at_ the building," Erick said. "I just tossed it to the ground, but it kinda flung outwards to the buildings."

"Well, one of the managers happened to be with us," Lobby said, "and he caught the torch before it hit the building."

"Hey, that torch wasn't even lit," Erick said. "I think all the managers made a big deal for nothing. Sir Rowan hadn't even bought it."

Everyone was fairly dry by this time, so they entered the Stronghold.

"But I'm guessing that's one of the reasons for Zeus' sighs," Lobby said as they walked inside.

Kate and Jack chuckled while Erick rolled his eyes.

When they reached the command table, all four of them stopped. The managers were standing around the table with serious expressions on their faces.

"Zeus?" Kate said in alarm. "Is everything ok?"

Jack said, "Did we…did we lose?"

"Ah, Kate, Jack," Zeus said. "Lobby. Erick."

All the managers nodded in greeting.

Zeus said, "No, we won. But there were some losses."

Jack grimaced and said, "The traps."

"Oh no!" Lobby said.

Kate said softly, "How many did we lose?"

"Eighty-four soldiers," Zeus said.

Everyone bowed their heads.

"Has Hero Adileh brought them home?" Kate said.

Zeus shook his head and said, "I wish she could have, Kate. But an erased citizen or soldier leaves no trace behind. Only the hero leaves anything behind for us to bury."

Lobby sniffled, and Kate heard Jack sigh.

"This is war," one of the other managers said. "Considering that thousands of our troops returned, it was not a bad sacrifice. Sir Rowan can train many more to replace them in no time at all."

Murmurs of agreement rippled through the group of managers. Even Zeus' eyes became thoughtful.

Something fiery burst inside Kate, and she sharply stepped forward.

"How dare you," she said in a hard voice.

She saw all the managers start in alarm and turn to her with wide eyes.

"The other empire cities might think nothing of a few losses, but we are _not_ like them. A few losses? Even one loss is something to mourn about! And sacrifice? Yes! They sacrificed their very lives to give us victory! Your words dishonor them!"

"Kate," Jack said softly. "Breathe."

Kate realized she was breathing in short, angry spurts. She didn't look at Jack and took another step towards the managers. They all took a step back. Just as she opened her mouth to give them another sharp reprimand, Lobby's hand at her elbow stopped her.

"Kate," Lobby said quietly. "You have a red glow coming out of you. It's…It's doing something to me…to us. I'm getting angry and scared all at once."

Erick stepped up next to her, too.

"Yeah, I keep wanting to punch all of _these_ ," Eric said, pointing at the managers, "in the face. I mean, I got upset when they said all that stuff. But now, after you've talked…I really, _really_ want to go do something to them. But then, I'm getting nervous and a little scared standing next to you, too."

Kate blinked and turned to Lobby and Erick.

They were looking at her with wide, concerned eyes, but Kate saw a flash of uncertainty and fear there, too. They had a tense look in their faces that she didn't like. That tension tightened each time Lobby and Erick glanced over at the managers.

"I…I'm sorry," Kate said and felt the fiery knot inside her loosen.

Tears filled her eyes.

Kate saw Lobby and Erick relax, and the strange negative light in their eyes disappeared. Next to her, Kate felt Jack put his arm around her waist.

"Let's go back to the wall, Kate," Jack said. "We can greet Hero Adileh and the soldiers when they get home."

Kate nodded and let the others escort her out. She didn't miss how the managers, including Zeus let out sighs of relief.

"Remind me never to get you mad at me," Erick said in a quiet voice.

"Erick!" Lobby whispered with a frown.

Kate wiped her eyes and pretended she hadn't heard. Instead, she leaned into Jack and let him whisper comforting nonsense words into her ear the entire trip to the walls.


	14. Chapter 14: Beginner's Teleport

**14: Beginner's Teleport**

Juno stood in the Items Room on the manager's balcony with Frank, the Items Room manager. The Player Orb above their heads was brightly lit, and flares of light kept touching an item called the Beginner's Teleport. It was a particularly large and heavy item, so ten citizens were holding it up.

When any citizen holding it became fatigued, Juno or Frank would direct another citizen to switch with the tired one.

"That's the fourth time Sir Rowan has taken that item out," Frank said. "Do you think he means to use it? He's been looking at it long enough."

"I don't know," Juno said. "The teleports are a little different from other items. They can't be used from here. The Player has to activate it from the world map."

The door to the Items Room opened, and to Juno's relief, Zeus walked in. He went up to the manager's balcony.

"Juno, Frank," Zeus said. "Is Sir Rowan still looking at the Beginner's Teleport from here?"

"About four times now," Frank said. "We've had a few crashes each time. The item's too big for the citizens closest to the shelves to get out in time when it's put back on the shelf."

Juno said, "What are the chances that we'll teleport soon?"

"High," Zeus said. "He's been looking out at a spot to the far south of our kingdom. That area has several other Player cities from this new alliance Sir Rowan joined, including the alliance leader. We think he wants to join the alliance hive."

Suddenly, the Player Orb above them dimmed, and the world map jewel on the managers' medallions lit up. Immediately, the Beginner's Teleport floated back towards the shelf. The citizens carrying the item shuffled backwards with the item.

Juno yelled out, "It'll get there on its own now. This isn't the first time! How many times do we have to remind you? LET GO!"

All ten citizens released the Beginner's Teleport and fell back on the floor. One of them dropped a little too late and hit his head hard on the edge of the item just before it passed through the crystal encasing.

Juno winced. That had to hurt as much as crashing into the shelf.

She said, "Honestly, it's not as if they're newly awaken. They're more than a few Player days old! You'd think they would have learned by now!"

Frank chuckled and said, "Not all batches awaken with the same absorption rate. Most of these awakened during the abandonment."

"That would explain it," Juno said with an exasperated sigh. "But Sir Rowan visits all the time now. I think we need to send these out to street walking duty more often!"

Suddenly, the Beginner's Teleport lit up and glowed inside the crystal casing.

"That's our cue," Zeus said. "Frank, I leave things here to you. Juno, follow me. We need to get the citizens ready for teleport transportation."

Juno nodded and followed Zeus back to the central command table.

* * *

Kate stood at the wall, and put an eyeglass up to her eye. Beyond their city limits, she looked at the familiar flat plains, rolling hills, and occasional mountains for the last time.

Hundreds of other citizens stood with her at the wall, including Jack and the others. Citizen runners were already running past the city walls shouting updates at the top of their lungs.

"Beginner's Teleport in pre-activation stage! Pre-activation stage!"

"This is it," Kate said to Jack. "Our first teleport. I'm glad we're staying in the same kingdom."

"Yeah," Jack said. "But I wonder what the other kingdoms look like."

"Technically, even after we use this one, we'll still have another beginner's teleport to go to another kingdom," Erick said.

"But we wouldn't be able to come back," Lobby said. "Only Beginner's Teleports can cross Kingdom shields."

"I'm glad we're staying in the same kingdom," Manda said softly. "This is the kingdom where we came into awareness. I think I would always miss it if we left."

Next to Manda, 88 said, "Yeah, me, too!"

"Activation! Activation!" Another citizen runner shouted as he ran past them.

Everyone looked out.

Blue-white swirls of light surrounded their city. The swirls became larger and larger until they could no longer see the plains, hills, and mountains past the edges of their city's boundaries. Then with a flash, the sky above them disappeared.

Kate looked around her with wide eyes.

The entire city was traveling through an enormous shimmering white tube of light. The iridescent light surrounding them reminded her of the shimmering energy of a peace shield. If she squinted, she could see past the edges of it. Beyond the iridescent surface of the tube, she saw a vast empty space filled with sparkling lights and many other tubes like the one their city was traveling along.

It was beautiful.

"Wow…" Erick said. "If we ever do any more teleporting, I want to be out here on the wall to watch."

"It's wonderful," Manda said with a soft smile.

Everyone else nodded in silent agreement.

Soon, Kate could see the end of the tube. She saw a bright light surrounded with tendrils of the same blue swirls that had brought them into this tube. When the city reached it, the blue tendrils reached out and surrounded their city in circular swirls. It pulled them out into the opening, and a flash of bright light momentarily blinded her.

After several blinks, Kate realized that she could see the sky again.

"Uh…we're right next to another enemy city," Erick said.

"Uh, actually," 88M said. "We're surrounded on three sides!"

Kate looked out beyond the farms. 88 was right. Three other cities surrounded them.

"They're not enemy cities," Manda said softly. "They're allies."

"Are you certain about that, darling?" Toffer said. "Shouldn't we check with the command table to be sure?"

Manda shook her head and said, "I'm certain. They have a blue aura around them. They're friends. I can tell."

Erick frowned and said, "I don't see a blue aura around them."

Kate looked at the cities next to them and squinted. When she tried, she could see the faintest hint of blue around them.

Kate said, "Manda…I see it."

Erick blew out a breath and said, "That's not fair. Lobby can tell just by looking how far away things are, and you and Manda can see on sight whether a city is a friend or not. How come I can't do any of those things?"

Kate chewed thoughtfully on her lip and mulled over the thought that had suddenly popped into her head.

"Manda? Lobby?" Kate said. "When we came into awareness, do you remember where the light hit you?"

Erick answered for them.

"Oh, I remember. Several sparks hit both of them straight on their face."

"Actually," Lobby said. "The spark hit me more on the side of the head than my face, but it got into my eyes, too."

"Erick?" Kate said. "What about you?"

Erick said, "I was using my arms to protect myself, and both of them were hit."

Jack said, "Chest and legs."

Toffer didn't answer. Everyone looked at him.

Finally, he sighed and said, "I swallowed one."

"You…what?" Erick said and snorted.

Toffer gave him a look.

"I was startled," he said. "And when I exclaimed my surprise…a spark popped into my mouth…and I swallowed it. According to Essa, my mouth, tongue, teeth…all of them were glowing. And you could kind of see a glow through my stomach."

Erick snorted again.

"Where was Essa hit?" Kate said.

"Throat and chest," Toffer said.

"And does anyone know where Sammi and Mari were hit?"

Manda said, "I think Mari might have been hit on one of her ears and the side of her neck. I'm not sure about Sammi."

"Why all the questions, Kate?" Jack said

"Some of these abilities we're starting to show...I think it might be connected to where we were hit."

88M spoke and said in an excited voice, "Amazing!"

"Really?" Erick said and brought his arms up to flex his muscles.

"Dear Erick, you're not a soldier," Toffer said. "Your muscles aren't any bigger than any other citizen."

88M and Jack snorted.

"Hey, you never know," Erick said, still flexing his arms. "Maybe this means I'll have super strength."

"I got hit in the legs," Jack said. "And now that I'm a normal citizen, I'm no faster than anyone else. I wouldn't put too much hope into it, Erick."

"Dream busters," Erick said and dropped his arms. "The both of you."

88M giggled.

"Well, you might want to try aiming for more realistic goals, dear Erick," Toffer said with a raised brow.

This time 88M burst out laughing. Manda and Lobby chuckled while Erick sputtered at Toffer.

Kate turned back to the ally cities next to them and squinted again. The blue glow became visible. Kate grimaced, and she felt something knot up inside her chest.

"You ok?" Jack said softly next to her.

"I'm fine," Kate said. "I just…can you see the glow? If you squint?"

Jack squinted out, but after a moment, he shook his head.

"What's wrong?" he said. "You can tell me."

Kate glanced at the others, who were still laughing at Erick and Toffer's interaction.

"I wasn't hit in the eyes," Kate said quietly to Jack. "Why can I see the glow? I mean, I have to squint, but still…"

"Kate," Jack said slowly. "We were hit by sparks or splashes of light. You were hit by a full blown stream of it…don't you remember? Your whole body was glowing at one point, and haven't we all been telling you that if we look at you at the right angle, you still shine?"

"I suppose…" Kate said. "I just…"

Kate saw Jack give the others a look, and they nodded at him. Jack then put his hand on Kate's back and led her away to a more quiet section of the wall.

Jack didn't say anything. He simply looked at her with that knowing, quiet, and patient look that she had come to appreciate about him.

Finally, with a sigh, she said, "Do you remember when I got so angry with the managers the other day? And it did something to Erick and Lobby?"

Jack nodded.

"Did my anger affect you, too?"

Jack slowly nodded.

"I...I influence people. I don't know how I feel about that. And now, knowing that I can do what Manda can, it makes me wonder what else I can do. If I try, could I do what Lobby can do, too? But if I can do so much, what does that make me? I mean the nine of us are different from other citizens, but this makes me different out of all us, too. Why do _I_ have to be so different? Being able to do these things…it doesn't make me happy. It's too much responsibility."

By this time, tears were welling up Kate's eyes again. At the same time, having finally said something that had bothered her ever since 88M first told her about being special, a small weight lifted itself off of her chest.

Jack didn't say anything. He only stepped forward and embraced her.

Kate sniffled into his chest.

"We're here for you," he said softly. "Don't feel like you need to bear all of this alone. And remember, you influence in a good way, too. When you're happy, it's a wonderful thing being close to you."

Kate nodded.

"I'm so glad I have you," Kate said.

"Me, too," Jack said.

Kate sniffled one last time and wiped her tears. She stepped out of Jack's embrace, and briefly tiptoed to kiss him on the cheek.

Jack grinned.

Above their city, the Player Orb darkened.

Immediately, Jack said, "You want to jump the falls?"

Kate smiled and said, "I can do one jump, but then I have a farming shift coming up."

Jack nodded and called to the others.

He said, "Let's jump the falls!"

The others agreed and came up to Jack and Kate.

Manda and Lobby each linked their arms to one of Kate's arms. They smiled at Kate, and Manda put her head close to Kate's. Then Erick and Toffer put their hands on each of her shoulders and squeezed it.

88 went in front of them and turned back to Kate to smile widely at her. Next to him, Jack smiled at her, too.

Kate smiled back.

She really wasn't alone.


	15. Chapter 15: Research

**Chapter 15: Research**

The Academy was Sammi's favorite building in the whole city. Even though it looked fancy on the outside, it was very simple on the inside. The first floor was wide open with an enormous Player Orb floating majestically in the center.

Great crystal pillars held up the ceiling all throughout the vast room, and small crystal podiums, each with a crystal orb floating above it, surrounded every pillar. Each pillar and circle of orbs also had a spiral staircase winding up all the way to the ceiling to the second floor.

Sammi knew the names of each pillar and the Research Orbs around them…well, the ones that were lit up and accessible to Sir Rowan.

She walked towards the Economics Pillar. On her way, she paused in front of the Player Orb, which was brightly lit up. She closed her eyes and soaked in the rays of warm light before continuing on her way.

When she reached the Economics Pillar, she saw that one of the Research Orbs for Marching Speed was not only lit up, but bright tangles and flares of light were swirling on the inside. Sammi smiled and went to the Economics spiral staircase. She bounded up the steps to the second floor.

The walls of the second floor were filled from floor to ceiling with shelves packed with books and scrolls. Only one section of wall called the Submissions Strip, or the Strip for short, had no bookshelves. Instead, it had rows of cylindrical slots that went all the way to the ceiling.

The room also had small crystal pedestals scattered throughout the room on the spots on top of where every major giant Research Pillar on the first floor was located. Each pedestal held an opaque oval shaped stone called a Research Stone.

Every other inch of floor space was packed with rows and rows of tables and chairs. And today, since a research was going on, the room was packed with Academy students like her.

The Economics Research Stone was lit up and spitting out scrolls out an amazing speed. Students in line to catch a scroll were having difficulty getting their scroll without getting hit in the face. Those who already had their scrolls were scattered throughout the room browsing the shelves for specific titles or scrolls.

The Research and Academy Manager, Apollo, was walking up and down the aisles of tables full of students frantically writing notes on their scrolls. He would stop once in a while and murmur something to them about their research, which would result in the student either flipping frantically through the books and scrolls already in front of them or rushing to the shelves for more titles.

When their scrolls were too full of notes to write anymore, students would get up and go to the Strip and slip their filled scroll into one of the open nooks.

As soon as a scroll was in place, the opening of the nook would cover itself with crystal, and a silver glow would surround it. That glow would travel down the wall and to the floor along the edges of designs on the stone floor until it reached the crystal floor around the pedestal that corresponded with the current research underway. Today, it was the Economics Research Stone.

Sammi took her place in line for a scroll.

She ignored the covert glances in her direction, and the quiet whispers of "a Chosen One."

When it was almost her turn to get a scroll, someone shouted her name from across the room.

"Sammi!"

Everyone's heads turned and for one moment, the sound of feather pens scribbling on paper stopped. Sammi turned and groaned.

It was Erick.

More murmurs erupted until Apollo sternly called students' attention back to their scrolls.

"We have a research to finish, people!" he said and turning to Erick, he put a finger up to his lips.

Sammi saw Erick mouth "sorry" to Apollo, who sighed and shook his head.

It was Sammi's turn to get a scroll, and she caught it when it came flying out at her. Immediately, she went to the far shelves to find some books.

Erick followed her.

"Sammi," Erick whisper called.

Sammi sighed and turned around.

"Erick," she said. "I know you and the others love falls jumping, but I really, really, _really_ don't care for it. So please, stop asking. And having picnics on top of the falls…you know how I feel about heights."

Erick blinked and said, "But you go up those ladders all the time."

He pointed at one of the long ladders that rolled along the shelves.

"That's different. It's a way to get to research, but sitting on top of the falls…"

Erick shook his head and said, "Well, it doesn't matter. This isn't about going to the falls or anything like that."

"Oh," Sammi said. "Well, what is it? I have to get to work. We're in the middle of a research."

"Yeah, but this is important," Erick said. "Trust me."

"More important than research?" Sammi said and shook her head. "Nothing's more important than research, Erick. Research is what makes our city and troops stronger, better, more productive…"

"I just have a quick question," he said, "Kate sent me."

"Kate?" Sammi said. "Oh…well…what's your question?"

"When you first awakened, where did the light hit you?"

Sammi furrowed her brows and said, "Mostly my hands, and some splatters on my right side. Why?"

"Kate thinks the spots we were hit by the light might be related to some of the gifts the others are showing. I still don't know what I can do, yet."

"Gifts?" Sammi said, her interest piqued.

"You haven't noticed anything different about your hands or things your hands can do that others can't…"

Sammi shook her head and said, "My hands are my hands. Nothing special or strange about them."

Erick shrugged and said, "No? Oh, well. I guess our gifts will show up eventually."

Manager Apollo shouted, "Ten Player minutes left until research ends! Pick up the pace everyone! We still have a lot of scrolls to submit!"

Sammi said to Erick, "I really have to go. Maybe I can come by the villa later when the research is finished. I'll find all of you. I want to hear more about these gifts."

Erick nodded and said, "Good. We were all thinking that if we want to find out more about this stuff, we would definitely need your help, research being your specialty and all."

Sammi nodded.

Erick waved and left.

With a sigh, Sammi turned back to the shelves and picked out a few books on feet placement and marching rhythms. She went to an empty space at one of the tables and flipped through the books, making notes.

But her usual fast paced writing slowed to a crawl when she looked down at her hands.

She remembered when the small splash of light had jumped out at her. She had put her hands out to block it, and the light had gotten onto them. She had been too stunned at the sight of her glowing hands to prevent the second splash of light from hitting her side. She could still clearly recall the hot then tingling sensation in her hands and side.

She wondered if her hands were special after all. What kind of special ability could they be capable of? And what kind of gifts had the others displayed?

Sammi sighed and shook her head at herself. She should have asked Erick to explain who had the gifts and what they could do.

"Speed up activated! Sir Rowan is using a speed up! Pick up the pace, everyone!"

Apollo's voice jerked Sammi out of her thoughts, and she looked up. The Research Stone was now spitting out scrolls at an alarming rate. The scrolls smacked student after student in the face.

"Ow!"

"Ow!"

One student ducked, and the scroll hit someone behind him.

"OW!"

"Sorry!"

Sammi looked down and frowned at her partially filled scroll. She shook her head and refocused on the books opened in front of her. She copied down notes onto the scroll until it was filled. She then got in line to submit her scroll into a nook in the Strip.

"Another speed up! One Player Minute left!"

Sammi ran to get another scroll. Three came flying out at her, and she managed to catch them before they hit her in the face. She took all three of them back to her seat. Thoughts of the Chosen and gifts disappeared from her mind, and she scribbled frantically on her scrolls then scrambled to get them submitted to the Strip before time ran out.

Finally, when the last scroll was submitted, Apollo called out a congratulations to all the students.

"Well done, everyone! We got everything in a few Player seconds ahead of schedule!"

The silvery light from the last scroll flowed down to the Economics Research Stone. It flashed.

"Research complete!" Apollo said and turned to one of the students. "Report to the quests room to confirm if we qualified for any of the Event prizes. If we did, they'll need to have Hermes mail the results to Sir Rowan. Quickly! You only have a few Player seconds!"

The student ran down the spiral steps. Meanwhile, Sammi sat at the desk and leaned back into her chair with a sigh. Next to her, several students stood up and walked up and down the aisles in between the tables.

"Oh! I think I can walk faster now!"

"What? You're imagining things."

Sammi glanced over and watched the student walk up and down the aisle. She couldn't tell if the student really was able to walk faster or not, but it made sense. March speed was supposed to give all troops the ability to walk faster. Why not citizens, too?

Sammi looked back down at her hands and turned them this way and that.

Finally, she stood up with a sigh. She would go find Mari and Essa then take them to Kate. If they were going to figure out anything that was specific to the Chosen ones, then all nine of them should be together to talk about this. Knowing Mari, she was probably holed up in one of the obscure rooms in the More Tunnels, and Essa was probably running herself ragged at the forge with Heph.

She left the second floor and went downstairs. As she passed the large Economics Stone, she smiled at the smaller stones surrounding it. The one for Marching Speed was glowing, and a symbol for level one was shining on the pedestal beneath it. She couldn't wait to do more research both officially for the Player and for this new mystery surrounding the Chosen.


	16. Chapter 16: Snakeskin

**Chapter 16: Snakeskin**

Kate stood at the wall by herself staring out at the cities of the Players in Sir Rowan's alliance. Every time she squinted, she could still see the faint blue glow. She could also see citizens working on the other Players' farms and walking around in the outer plots doing their street walking duty. But no one in any of the other cities was on the city wall like she was.

"How are you doing, Kate?" a pleasant voice said to her. "I usually don't get visitors when there's nothing going on."

Kate turned and smiled at Axel, the wall and traps master.

"I sometimes like to come up here alone," she said.

Axel put down a sack of something heavy and said, "Not surprised. You're not like the other citizens. They're a predictable lot for the most part. But you and the other Chosen, who knows where you lot will be from day to day. Although some others from your batch have surprised me, too."

Kate blinked and said, "I…"

"It's a good thing," Axel said and pulled out bricks from the sack.

Kate said, "Wow, so those are the traps for our wall?"

Axel nodded.

"War Bricks," he said. "Sir Rowan commanded us to make two thousand of these. I'm just setting up the last batch up here on the wall. Spikes and Boiling Tar is all done, too."

Kate looked over at the small wooden towers on the ends of the wall and said, "And looks like the Archer Towers are finished constructing. So, eight thousand traps all together…we've come a long way."

"Yep," Axel said and put the last of the War Bricks on the wall.

He brushed his hands together and turned to her.

"So," he said. "Any particular reason why you wanted to be alone up here on the wall? When you're troubled, loneliness doesn't help."

"I'm not lonely…how did you know I was troubled?"

Axel tilted his head to the side and gazed at her from a side angle. Kate blinked and put a self-conscious hand to her face.

He said, "Let's just say that you look a little…blue."

"Oh," Kate said. "I just have some things to think about."

"Anything I can help with?" Axel said.

Kate shook her head and said, "No, not really…I just…I suppose I want to know why."

Axel raised a brow.

"Why did that light burst out onto us? Why are we different? Why am _I_ so different, and is there a purpose? If there is, then for what purpose?"

Axel said, "Those are some tough questions you're asking. Don't think I've ever thought to ask those things myself."

Kate sighed and said softly, "Yes, I seem to be the only one who wants to know."

Suddenly, a flash of blue and white light distracted Kate. It came from the side of the city that didn't have any fellow alliance Player's cities right there.

It was another city several tiles away. It had just teleported in.

Kate squinted at it. The city glowed red.

A familiar red light flashed throughout the city, and Kate turned to look at the watchtower. Red circles of smoke were blowing up out of the top.

"Scout or attack?" Axel said with a frown.

Kate looked back out at the red glowing city. She could see troops leaving that city and walking towards them.

"Attack," she said.

There had been no scout, which meant the enemy Player was attacking them blind. Either the enemy Player was stupid or so strong that a scout wasn't necessary.

That wasn't good.

Kate looked up at the dim Player orb. The splotch of light was aimed out towards the world. Why wasn't Sir Rowan putting up a peace shield?

Kate looked back at the approaching troops and gasped. They were much closer than they had been just a moment ago.

"They're so fast!" Kate said. "We won't have enough time to get all the citizens back to the city behind the falls! And Hero Adileh isn't even here! All the troops are out gathering resources with her!"

"Go," Axel said. "People will go into hiding faster if you're the one directing everything. I'll handle things here. I have my wall team to man the traps."

"But Axel, you could be…you're not a soldier. They can do whatever they want with you."

"If they can catch me," he said. "I'll be fine. Here, take this."

Axel tossed her a War Brick, and she caught it.

"Use it if you need to," he said. "Now, go!"

Kate took one last look at the enemy soldiers already approaching the city gates. She gasped. Those uniforms weren't tier one soldiers…they were much stronger…

Kate flew down the stairs to the first level of the city. Already, citizens were in a panic and running towards the traditional buildings. Quite a few of them she recognized as the newest batch that been awakened earlier that day.

Kate shook her head and put her fingers to her lips. The loud whistle stopped everyone in their tracks.

"The buildings aren't safe!" Kate said. "Follow me! Quickly, before the soldiers reach this level!"

A throng of citizens followed her.

Kate ran up the steps to the higher levels towards the Stronghold. On the way, she saw Erick and Jack.

"Kate!" Jack said and ran alongside her. "I was worried!"

"I'm fine," Kate said. "Are all the citizens going to the hidden city?"

"Yeah, but it's taking longer than normal," Erick said. "There are too many of us and not enough buildings behind the falls. We should have been better about building more."

"We'll have to have the rest of the citizens make a crowd in the empty area behind the buildings," Kate said. "No choice."

They reached the third level, but there were so many citizens around the Stronghold that Kate and her friends couldn't get even close to the falls or the path that led behind it.

"We don't have time for this," Kate said. "The soldiers coming are faster than any other we've faced, and what if the Player Orb lights up?"

"They're not tier one soldiers?" Jack said.

Kate shook her head, "And they didn't look like tier twos."

"Are you saying we have tier three soldiers coming at our city?" Erick said with wide eyes. "Or…what if they're tier fours, the strongest of all soldiers!"

"We need to stall the enemy before they come up here," Kate said. "I don't think Axel and his traps will hold them for long."

"Kate!"

Kate turned and saw that the rest of her friends were here, even Sammi, Mari, and Essa. For the first time since they had awakened, the nine Chosen were together.

"Why are there so many people?" Mari said with wide eyes.

Manda said, "Oh, no…I thought it was wonderful we were awakening so many citizens, because our city was growing, but now…"

Lobby said, "We're in trouble. I saw 88 while he was doing his runner duties. The soldiers coming are all tier threes. Over sixty-five thousand of them."

"What?!" everyone said at once.

"This is overkill," Erick said. "We'll be destroyed!"

"What's the enemy Player's name?" Kate said.

"Snakeskin," Lobby said.

"How pleasant," Toffer said flatly.

The name put a chill in Kate, and she shuddered.

Essa put her hands on her hips and said, "This is ridiculous. All these people mulling about…"

She turned to Toffer and Erick.

"Bend down, please," she said.

"What?" they both said.

"You heard me," she said. "This is an emergency. Bend down."

Erick and Toffer exchanged glances but did as Essa asked.

"Lower," she said.

Despite the seriousness of the circumstances, Kate smiled. It had been a while since she visited the forge to see Essa and her blunt, no-nonsense attitude.

Toffer and Erick bent down lower onto the ground. Essa climbed up on their backs and stood up tall. She cupped her hands and shouted out to crowd.

"Stop mulling about like a crowd of unawakened citizens and get moving! All of you there! Next to the falls! Move back! NOW!"

To Kate surprise, her ears tingled at Essa's voice, and the sound of it echoed all around them. Everyone stopped talking and pushing against each other the second Essa opened her mouth.

"Now, everyone else! Line up in an orderly fashion and move behind the falls!"

People obeyed, and the crowd around the Stronghold became thinner and thinner. Meanwhile, Essa jumped down off of Erick and Toffer's backs.

They groaned.

"Hey, Essa," Erick said. "I'm glad we could help, but couldn't you have found a rock or something?"

He rubbed his back with another groan.

When Essa raised one brow at him, Kate stifled a chuckle.

"Erick," Toffer said. "When will you learn to just nod and smile where Miss Essa's concerned?"

"But it hurt," he said. "She's not light, you know."

Toffer shook his head and said, "Dangerous territory…enter at your own risk."

Kate chuckled again but then she looked back behind her at the lower levels of the city. The warmth drained from her face.

"Kate, what's wrong?" Jack said. "You're so pale…"

Jacks eyes followed hers, and so did everyone else's.

Soldiers were pouring into the second tier. The only thing slowing them down was that they were taking torches and putting the different buildings on fire.

Even though the line of citizens going behind the falls was moving faster than before, it wouldn't be in time. By the time the soldiers reached the third level, they would see the citizens running behind the falls.

What if they followed?

Kate looked down at the War Brick still in her hand and firmed her lips in determination.

"Jack," she said softly. "I don't know if I've told you, but lately, I've been wanting to know why we're different and why we have certain abilities."

"What?" Jack said distractedly, looking at her then back at the soldiers.

The others glanced in her direction with a worried frown.

"I still don't know why," she said. "But I'm going to choose a purpose of my own. I'm going to protect them."

Kate looked back at the line of citizens still scrambling to get to the city behind the falls.

"We're the ones who walk outside of tradition," she said. "And that's what will protect them today."

"Kate, can we discuss this later…Kate!" Jack said.

Kate ran to the steps leading down to the second level. She tightly gripped the War Brick in her hand.

"Kate!"

She ignored everyone's shout and ran down the long steps until she reached the second level. She had barely walked a few steps when a lone enemy soldier turned and ran towards her.

Kate shouted out a wordless yell and threw the War Brick at the soldier. It hit him square on the chest and shattered into dust. The breastplate on him had a small dent where the War Brick had hit him. The soldier paused a moment then fixed a narrow stare on her.

Suddenly, Jack was at her side and so was Erick, Lobby, Manda, Toffer, Essa, Sammi, and Mari. The soldier paused again, but then he smirked. He lifted up a long pike and stepped menacingly towards them.

Immediately, Essa stepped forward with her hands on her hips again.

"Hold it!" she said sharply.

The soldier stopped and visibly flinched.

"Just who do you think you are waving that thing in our faces?" she said hotly. "You see any soldiers here, buddy? No, there's no one. Take the city resources like you're supposed to and move your armored behinds outta here! There's nothing for you to see! Storehouse is _that_ way!"

Kate gazed at Essa's back and blinked. It was happening again. Essa's words were ringing in her ears. Every word she said was like an intangible yet physical force.

The enemy soldier shook himself and scowled at Essa. Next to him, several other soldiers took notice of their little group, too. After another shake of his head, the enemy soldier leaped forward before Essa could say another word and whipped the sharp end of his pike at her.

"Essa!" Erick said and leaped in front of her with his arms lifted up protectively.

The pike bounced off, and the soldier stared at Erick with an incredulous look.

"Oh, you did _not_ just swing that thing down at me!" Essa said and took a step forward.

Immediately, Toffer grabbed one of Essa's arms, and Jack jumped forward to take her other arm.

"Let go of me!" Essa said. "No oversized blockhead swings anything at me and gets away with it!"

Kate vaguely heard Essa's words, but her attention was focused on Erick. He was staring at his arms, which he still had up in a protective pose.

Kate stepped forward to get a better look at him and gasped in surprise. A light blue, iridescent shimmer reminiscent of a peace shield glowed around Erick's arms.

Erick looked up at Kate and grinned. She gazed in wonder at him and smiled back. Next to her, she heard Sammi, gasp, too.

"Erick, your arms…" Sammi said. "This is amazing!"

The enemy soldier recovered and moved towards them again. His fellow soldiers did the same. The soldier jabbed his pike at Erick.

They all gasped, but Erick lifted his arms up again and blocked the tip of the pike with one arm. The force pushed both of them back from each other.

"This is great!" Erick said.

The enemy soldier scowled and said, "You're as good as erased!"

His fellow soldiers also leaped forward and lifted their weapons.

"You stop right there!" Essa shouted.

She struggled against Toffer and Jack's grip. Her face was dark, and she was breathing out in angry spurts.

The soldiers flinched and paused long enough for Erick to use his arms to push back the enemy soldier into his companions. The soldiers tripped over each other and fell into a heap on the floor with angry yells.

"I think this would be a good time to run?" Manda said, a hopeful note in her voice.

Everyone looked at her.

"Good idea," Jack said.

"I like it," both Mari and Lobby said.

The enemy soldiers untangled themselves and started getting to their feet.

Sammi nodded and said, "As fascinating as all this is, I agree. Sometimes, survival is more important than research."

"I'm not done, yet!" Essa said.

Kate saw Toffer and Jack tighten their grip on Essa.

"Now, now Miss Essa," Toffer said. "We wouldn't want to charm _all_ the soldiers, now would we?"

"Yeah, I think it's a good time to go," Erick said.

Kate looked up to the far side of the street. Thousands of soldiers were now marching in their direction, most likely to go up to the next level. Kate then looked at the great open space and fountain to her left and looked through the falling water to the other side of the second level. She could see more enemy soldiers already moving up the stairs over there. Kate scowled and wished that the creators hadn't made two stairways up to the third level of the city.

The soldiers who had tried to attack them were also on their feet now and picking up their fallen weapons. They were all muttering angrily at Kate and her friends.

"Let's go!" Kate said.

They all ran up the steps with Toffer and Jack half-carrying, half-dragging Essa along.

"Bad mannered, good-for-nothing soldiers who don't know how to leave decent citizens alone! Go to the dungeons! I hope the dungeon monster eats every single one of you!"

Kate winced at the force of every one of Essa's words.

They reached the top of the stairs, and to Kate's relief, she saw that all the citizens had safely moved behind the falls. Kate almost ran back to the falls, too, but her mind instantly rejected that notion. The soldiers who had come up the third level from the other side were already marching towards them.

They couldn't have any of those soldiers learning about the city behind the falls.

The Stronghold loomed up ahead, and Kate briefly expressed her gratitude to the creators for at least making this staircase closer to the Stronghold than the other staircase. At the same time, an idea popped into her head, and she ran straight for the Stronghold.

"Kate!" Jack said. "We have to go to the falls!"

"No!" she said. "They'll follow us! I have an idea! Trust me!"

They all entered the Stronghold and ran deep inside to the central chamber. It was empty. All the managers had probably fled to the falls, too. Toffer and Jack finally let go of Essa, who huffed at them.

"Uh, just so we're clear," Erick said. "You do know that they can enter the Stronghold and burn it just like any of the other buildings?"

Kate nodded and said, "Yes, I know, but I just had a thought." She turned to Jack and said, "Jack, when you scouted other cities, you said you couldn't enter certain rooms in their Stronghold."

"But that's because we're still a low level Stronghold," Jack said. "Ares told me that when our level goes up and Sir Rowan does Scouting Research, I'll gain the ability to enter rooms that were locked before. And that's for a scout. I don't know what the restrictions are for enemy troops."

"It's ok," Kate said. "What about the More Tunnels? Do you think the More Tunnels would be safe?"

Mari gasped and said, "That's it! I don't think it's locked necessarily, but no one would think to enter the More Tunnels! During the other attacks, no one bothered me there! And even if they entered, there are so many tunnels and halls, they would get lost trying to find us. Don't the soldiers have a limited amount of time to attack before they have to go back to their home city?"

"You're right," Jack said with wide eyes and turned to Kate. "This is a good idea."

Kate smiled and looked at Mari.

"The How to Play Room should do it!" Mari said. "It actually has over forty other rooms in it. They'll never find us there!"

"You're the expert," Kate said and gestured with her hand. "Lead the way."

Mari nodded, and everyone followed her to the entrance that led down into the More Tunnels.


End file.
